


One of a Kind [Steven Universe AU]

by Phantom_Kira



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen, Steven Universe AU, after steven universe future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:40:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 62,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25627609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantom_Kira/pseuds/Phantom_Kira
Summary: Why does a strange pearl want to save a Labradorite from an old laboratory at all costs? What are her purposes?|| DISCLAIMER: all the world and the characters of the original Steven Universe belong to Rebecca Sugar (♥). The other OCs and the story belong to me, instead. ||
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	1. ★ 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello∼  
> Welcome to my first work here on AO3. Notice that English is not my first language thus you may find mistakes and other monstrosities. So please, be kind and good reading!

Green and blue computer screens lit up the room, all over the floor lied old blueprints and fragments of gems. Dust and cobwebs covered the machines and the corners of the large square walls. Someone was typing frantically the buttons of the primitive keyboard.

She had sweat on her forehead, her blue eyes were focused on the screens in front of her, the gem at the centre of her chest was shining because of them; she was trying to hack into the database of that laboratory.

« _Oh come on…stupid human old devices…_ » she whispered to herself. She seemed to be in a hurry as if someone was trying to find her. From her spot she could hear quick steps: they were heavy and numerous.

« _At last!_ » she whispered - uttered in happiness. That laboratory had two large windows in front of the computers and they overlooked in a larger room: it was dark and the only source of light came from large pillars filled with a strange luminescent liquid; most of them were empty but the gem was interested in only one of them, the pillar with someone inside. The gem smiled at Her sight.

« _I've found you…_ » suddenly the alarm went off and the green colour of the screen was replaced by a bright red "ALARM" screen. The gem saw how the pillars were gradually emptied from their liquid and all of a sudden the door of the laboratory was breaking down: five or more Amethysts, with their large and muscular body, were blocking the only way out for the other gem.

« _Stop right there, you pearl!_ » one of the Amethysts warned loudly. The other gem, the "pearl", summoned a saber: a curved sword with a golden hilt and shining blade. The pearl attacked the Amethysts one by one; she was too nimble for them and slowly they were all poofed. The pearl sighed and her saber vanished inside her gem; she was picking up the gems from the floor when she felt a pain on her back. A Jasper punched her from behind and the pearl was hurled against the glassed window of the laboratory. She fell on the ground next to an empty pillar and the Jasper followed her: she was tall and muscular like the Amethysts but her skin was light orange / red coloured with a gem shining on her left hip. 

The pearl stood up and summoned her saber again, ready to fight; the Jasper was armed too: a long, red blade right under her right arm, attached to her body thanks to her armour. The pearl saw with the corner of her eye that the only occupied pillar was now fully emptied of its liquid and the computer was finishing the procedure to release the unconscious body inside of it.

« _So you came for it…_ » asked the Jasper with her powerful voice, while looking at the pillar behind the pearl. « _Wrong move_.» the Jasper attacked first, her red blade shone in the dark room. The pearl avoided her attack with a jump but Jasper's assaults were ferocious and fast. With a quick move, the Jasper attacked with her blade, the pearl protected herself with her saber but she could not see the punch that hit her face. The pearl flung against a pillar; with horror she noticed it was Her pillar and the glass cracked because of the collision. The Jasper was ready to attack again but her gaze stared at the pillar: the glass broke in pieces but the unconscious body was lift up thanks to some wires and pipes; from behind the body a bright green-blue beams of light, like the Aurora Borealis, erupted and gradually formed a sort of shield around the figure. The Jasper was amazed, almost relaxed by that sight and the pearl took advantage of it: her saber hit her right on her stomach and the Jasper was poofed, her gems clinked on the floor. The pearl bubbled the gem and it fluctuated in the air next to her; as soon as the danger disappeared, the Aurora Borealis shield vanished too. The wires and pipes broke and the body started to fall; the pearl rushed and grabbed it before hitting the ground.

« _I've finally found you…my Labradorite_ »

**★★★**

For a long time, darkness was the only thing she could see. But after a while, a warm feeling went through her. What was that? She suddenly opened her eyes and recognised the source of that warmth: a little fire next to her. She rubbed her eyes and sat down, her head was spinning and her sight was a blur. When the eyes adjusted to the light of the fire, she saw rocks around her: she was in a tiny cave; from afar she saw a light blue bubble with something inside. She tried to stand up but a sharp pain on her lower back hit her and fell on her knees.

« _You're finally awake, my Labradorite_.» someone said. The voice came closer to her and helped the girl to sat down again.

« _W-What?_ »

« _I see you're still confused, my Labradorite. But do not worry! I'm at your eternal service. As long as you exist, I'll serve you!_ » the other one said. The girl looked up at her: light blue skin, pale blue hair that partially covered one eye, dark blue bodysuit and cyan "shoes" and pants; she was at least 6'4" (193 cm) if she was not on tiptoes.

« _This…this is not helping…ehm?_ »

« _I'm your Pearl_.» she answered smiling. The girl's head was spinning again; she didn’t understand anything the "pearl" said. She massaged her temple and noticed she was naked. She tried to cover herself with her hands.

« _Gems do not need clothes, my Labradorite. It's a human thing._ »

« _What are you talking about? Even you are wearing clothes…and you don’t seem much human to me._ »

« _These? Oh my, they are not clothes, my Labradorite_. _But if you insist, I can sew something nice for you: a fancy dress or a uniform!_ »

« _Well I insist actually…_ » the girl replied now feeling uneasy near this person. However, in a matter of minutes the Pearl sew the most human set of clothes she could imagine: a complete set of underwear, a long pair of jeans and a white shirt with a purple rhombus printed on it. The girl was dressing herself afar from the Pearl and when she was going to wear her jeans she yelled, her voice echoed in the cave.

« _What's wrong, my Labradorite?_ » the Pearl rushed to her, with her saber in her hand ready to fight.

« _There's something!_ » the girl uttered with terror looking at Pearl.

The Pearl sighed and the saber disappeared inside her gem. « _Where is it?_ »

« _Here! On my lower back! It's hard and smooth!_ » the Pearl went behind her and looked down at the girl's body: a perfect oval shaped black gem was stuck in her sacrum; with light the gem had beautiful blue - green iridescent colours. The Pearl laughed quietly.

« _It's just your gem, my Labradorite_.»

« _What?! I have a stone in my body?! Take it off!_ » she was in panic. The Pearl sighed.

« _You really do not remember anything, my Labradorite…_ »

« _…Remember what?_ »

**★★★**

The two were still in the cave. Pearl was dancing close to the exit; the blue bubble with another gem inside of it was still mid-air in a corner. "Labradorite" was sitting near the fire watching the flames thinking about the conversation with Pearl.

**♦️FLASHBACK, FEW HOURS BEFORE♦️**

« _You really do not remember anything, my Labradorite…_ »

« _…Remember what?_ » The Pearl sighed again more loudly this time and went in front of the girl.

« _The thing in your sacrum is your gem, a Labradorite to be exact. Gems and humans live peacefully together since few years ago when the half-gem Steven Universe brought peace in the galaxy. The oppressive Great Diamond Authority does not exist anymore and all gems are considered equal_.» the Pearl started to explain but the girl stopped her immediately.

« _How did you find me?_ » asked "Labradorite". Then Pearl started to sweat.

« _You were…kidnapped by a group of Amethysts and I saved you, my Labradorite_.»

« _Stop calling me like that…it's not my name_.»

« _Oh? It's not?_ »

« _No! My name is…!_ » the girl stopped. She had a sudden memory lapse: she could not remember her name. Her mind was black; she could not remember anything. « _I…I don’t know…my own name…_ » the girl felt gloomy and melancholy: a sense of fear and loss went through her heart. All of a sudden her gem on her back lighted up and soon the sadness disappeared: now a feeling of hope, happiness and calmness made her smile now relieved.

« _I don't know anything…_ »

**♦️END OF THE FLASHBACK♦️**

"What does it mean "gems"? She could not be serious…" she thought by herself and looked at Pearl. She was still dancing like a ballerina: her blue skirt fluttered with every movement as for her light blue hair. "Labradorite" could hear her soft humming. Then her gaze focused on the blue bubble with a gem inside. Labradorite stood up and walked towards it: the gems inside this bubble was an orange, round stone.

"I wonder what kind of gem is it…" she looked at it through the bubble. Suddenly it blew up and Labradorite caught the gem before it reached the ground.

"Phew" she sighed observed the gem. "It is truly beautiful…" she was still watching it when it started to glow.

« _Uh?_ » Pearl noticed the light in the cave, too bright to come from a tiny fire. With horror, she noticed that Jasper was reforming again. A 7' (2.14m) muscular body formed from the gem, light red-orange skin, dark red markings, and yellow-orange fluffy hair; she wore a sort of dark blue top and pants. This Jasper was facing Pearl and Labradorite was right behind the giant gem, not moving a single muscle.

« _You pearl! Tell me where is your owner, now!_ » she commanded with her powerful voice. Jasper summoned her blade under her right arm while Pearl summoned hers from the pearl on her chest. They were ready to fight again.

« _Wait!_ » Labradorite called from behind Jasper. She instantly turned her head and looked down; there was Labradorite: a small (5'.5", 1.70m) human girl, with her short wavy brown hair and blue-green eyes. The Jasper looked at her with her yellow eyes and lifted her blade in the air.

« _Here **you** are!_» Jasper said with a devilish smile. Labradorite was ready to receive the blow and closed the eyes but she sensed her body being throw away by someone. When Labradorite opened again her eyes she found Pearl in front of her in order to protect her.

« _I've defeated Amethysts stronger than you_.» said Pearl with her saber in her hand.

« _I've crushed gems better than you_.» and the two gems started the fight. Both Pearl and the Jasper were good, excellent warriors but soon the cave started to fall down.

« _My Labradorite, run! The cave is going to collapse!_ » yelled Pearl during the battle. She was trying to keep the Jasper busy and Labradorite was watching them with fear. Then, without warning, she started to run away from the cave. She run and run towards nowhere, as far as possible from the two gems.


	2. ★2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Of course this story is set after Steven Universe Future

She kept running for how long? For an entire afternoon. Initially she didn’t feel anything but after a while her heart began to beat faster and faster because of the struggle. She was in the middle of a forest when she started to slow down and eventually fell down on the grass. Her breath was heavy and her chest hurt. She dragged herself under a giant tree to rest.

Few minutes later her breath returned normal and Labradorite looked around her: the nature was verdant and luxuriant; trees, flowers and grass created a wonderful view from her seat under the tree. Labradorite was thinking again about the past hours: she discovered she had a rock in her lower back that could not be removed, "Pearl" had a strange blue skin tone and that "Jasper" had a bad temper. And most importantly Labradorite did not remember anything: who she is, her age, her origins.

« _It's a bad way to start the day!_ » she said to herself and sighed. Then she stood up from the tree and started to walk looking for a river. These events made Labradorite hungry and she hoped the river could give her a fish. After a while she could hear the gentle sound of water and rushed ahead.

« _A river! Thanks stars, I'm starving…_ » then she passed the entire afternoon trying to fish. It was evening when she finally caught a couple of fishes; she managed to light up a fire and cook her dinner.

« _I hope you are fine…Blueberry…_ »

**★★★**

Her dinner did not last too long, she was really hungry. Labradorite was thinking watching the fire: that pearl did so much for her and she run away without helping her. Then she decided: she would come back to find her.

The next day she woke up early to return to the cave. The sun was not risen yet when she started her walk. Even if she run a lot, the cave was not so far; looking around her, she could see not only the forest, but a group of mountains too, maybe the cave was up there? Labradorite kept walking inside the forest taking advantage of the fresh air that blew among the trees; after a while the green grass was replaced by rocks and dust: the mountains were close. 

Labradorite ate some apples taken from the forest and watched her surroundings: the terrain was not regular, some holes (both big and little ones) appeared here and there; even the side of the mountains had these holes and many cracks.

« _It's strange…I thought I ran much more…_ » she said to herself. « _Ehm…Pearl? Are you here?_ » Labradorite tried to call her but the silence was deafening. She went near one of the holes to analyse it: deep but empty. Of course it was what should she expected?

Labradorite kept walking near the holes and eventually she found a cave with a lot of boulders inside; they blocked the entrance.

« _Pearl! Please, answer me!_ » Labradorite sighed. At first she was going to give up, but then she saw something bright on the ground, near a hole.

« _What's that?_ » she went closer and she gasped: it was a gem, a pearl-grey round one. « _Blueberry! I've found you, at last._ »

**★★★**

Labradorite left that stone place to return to the forest with Blueberry. Well, Blueberry's pearl actually, for some reason her body disappeared. She kept walking for days and eventually she left the forest behind her. Now large roads at her left and the sea at her right composed the landscape. Even if she lost her memory, she recognised human technologies: cars, large roads and big traffic signs. In late afternoon she saw traffic sign with huge letters: "Welcome to Sea City".

« _Sea City? I never heard that…_ » she said to herself and kept walking near the crash rail. The cars and their fast movements made her with shirt ruffle and she could smell the sea from there.

« _I bet that I could hear the ocean if there were no cars here…do you like it, Blueberry?_ » she said again, smiling and playing with Blueberry's pearl in her hand. The sea, with its salt water and gentle sound, always relaxed her.

After a while, when the sun was already colouring the sky with orange shades, she found a "shop" beside the road.

« _"Denny's Rest Stop. Sleep well, traveller." Wow…a service station near the ocean_.» she came closer to it: a square car park with a cream coloured building; next to the building a large sign with neon letters flashed the roof.

When she went inside and it was full of people both humans and…gems? Labradorite saw many gems, some of them really tall while others looked like little kids. She was still admiring the scene when she noticed she didn’t have money to spend there. Neither for a proper meal nor for a comfy bed. Labradorite sighed and left the rest stop; outside she saw two gems with an ice-cream cart: the first gem was quite short, a prism-shaped head with three spikes on top, big gem on her forehead and a white scarf around her neck; the second gem was taller than the other one, with spiky white mane-like structure around her head, she also had no nose and grey skin. They were serving ice-cream to whoever passed by them; she smiled, that was a generous act and they were cute after all.

Meanwhile, Labradorite didn’t notice that one of the gems was not near the cart anymore and she felt cold against her legs despite the jeans.

« _Ice-cream?_ » Labradorite looked down and saw the gem with the scarf around the neck; she was handing out a cute ice cream with many colours.

« _Ehm…I'm sorry…I cannot pay you for that…_ » Labradorite replied reluctantly and a bit embarrassed.

« _It's on the house_.» the blue gem replied with a kind smile.

« _Really? Thank you!_ » Labradorite thanked her and ate the ice-cream. « _It's delicious_ ∼»

« _I'm Larimar, and you?_ » she asked. Her eyes always appeared to be closed, giving her a permanently cheerful expression.

« _I'm…well…people call me Labradorite…_ »

« _Are you a gem? You don’t seem one_.»

« _I…I know, it's strange…_ » she stuttered. « _Do you know a place where…I can stay?_ »

« _Not far away from here there's Little Homeworld_.»

« _Little…Homeworld?_ »

**★★★**

« _So Little Homeworld, uh? Maybe there I can fix you somehow…_ » a settlement serving as the home for many gems. That's what Larimar said to Labradorite during their pleasant talk. Her friend Snowflake Obsidian explained that it is a good place for lost gems. Little Homeworld's small buildings were brightly coloured. Its central tower was tall, hexagonal, and beige with a whirly-bird like structure on top of it; it was surrounded by hills and verdant nature.

Labradorite approached it slowly as if she was a sort of invader. She was at the entrance when a 7' (2.15m) tall gem with a visor over her eyes, the abdominal area was pinkish-red on the left side and medium blue on the right, the legs were completely indigo and magenta at the toes and she had two wedding rings.

« _Hello, welcome to Little Homeworld_.» the tall gem said, her voice low and calm.

« _Uhm…hello?_ »

« _I'm Garnet, the yoga teacher and leader of the Crystal Gems. And you are?_ »

« _Labradorite…I guess_.» she replied. Garnet's peaceful presence made everything easier.

« _You guess?_ »

« _I…I don’t remember my real name…a blue Pearl called me like that_ »

« _Is she yours?_ »

« _No no…she saved me days ago but we split up..._ »

« _I see…are you hungry?_ »

Labradorite noded. « _A lot_ »

« _Good, follow me_.»

Labradorite learnt a lot from Garnet during their tour and lunch time. She explained how Little Homeworld worked, its school and classes, their life with the humans and the beauty of Earth. Garnet was surprised when Labradorite said she was a gem and not a human being.

« _Where is located your gem?_ »

« _On the sacrum_.»

« _I see…your skin tone is pretty…human for being a gem_.» Garnet noticed. Labradorite could not tell what she was feeling by her facial expression because of her visor and her voice had always the same calm tone.

« _I know…that's what I say too_.» Labradorite lowered a bit her jeans to show Garnet her gem: an (apparently) total black oval gem but the light showed its blue-green iridescent shades.

« _I never saw a Labradorite in my life..._ »

« _Really?!_ » she asked shocked.

« _Yes. You seem to be a "one-of-a-kind", the first Labradorite_.»

**★TIME SKIP★**

That afternoon Garnet was going to organise a party for few new students. Everyone was helping her: a tiny purple gem, a man with fluffy brown hair and a Pearl with a poufy, cropped, short-sleeve cyan blazer. They were placing a large stripe: "Welcome new students" and behind it the sign said "Little Home-school" in a green colour.

« _Here, carry this please_.» said Garnet and she gave a large box to Labradorite. She took it with one hand, the box seemed lightweight.

« _Are there new students?_ » she asked looking at the large stripe.

Garnet nodded and smiled at the work she did with the others. « _Are you coming?_ »

« _M-me? A…student? I'm not sure…_ » Labradorite was hesitant. She arrived that morning and these gems were so kind to her, she didn’t want to take advantage of it.

« _Don’t worry. Little Homeworld was built for this…to help gems no matter what. Feel free to take part of the ceremony, if you want_.» Garnet replied and went near the short purple gem and soon the Pearl joined them.

Later that afternoon Garnet, the purple gem and the Pearl welcomed the new students of their new school. There was a group of ten people around them, with strange skin colourations: some were a mix of blue and pink, others had pink skin with orange circles or a mishmash of yellow, purple, white and orange.

Garnet said something to them, a sort of speech about the Earth and their new freedom, then Pearl spoke about the classes of Little Home-school and the short purple gem (an Amethyst) was one of the teachers and talked about the lessons. After their speech every gem should sign a sort of register and one by one they all signed up.

« _Ehm…is there a place for me too?_ » Labradorite was the last one of the queue, too shy to come before.

Garnet smiled at her. « _Of course, there's a place for everyone_.» Labradorite smiled and used the pen to sign the register.

« _She is the gem I talked about before_.»

« _Ehy there, howudoin?_ » the Amethyst asked.

« _Ehm…excuse me?_ » Labradorite was confused, what kind of language was that?

« _Amethyst asked your physical and mental conditions_.» Pearl explained with a hint of pride in her voice.

« _Well…they are good, thanks…_ »

« _If you want to join the other new students, we will make a tour of the school soon._ » Garnet said suddenly changing subject, maybe sensing Labradorite's embarrassment. 

« _Ok, thank you Garnet!_ » Labradorite smiled and joined the other gems near the entrance of the school.

**★THAT NIGHT★**

Labradorite found a calm place between two trees and she put there her white hammock. The sky was filled with starts and the moon shone brightly among them. Labradorite was looking at Blueberry's pearl: an ellipsoid oval grey / white stone with a blue stripe around the contour.

« _Ehy Blueberry…you are safe now…are you forever stuck in this form?_ » she yawned, that was her first night at Little Homeworld.

**★★★**

Labradorite loved that place: the school was beautiful, her new friends were the best and she discovered her passion for baseball. Amethyst was the best teacher, for her. She learnt a lot about gems, their life and what Steven Universe did these years. Everything was fine and the sun shone in the sky, no clouds ahead.

Before lunch time the warp pad in the main tower of Little Homeworld glowed with a light blue light.

« _Who came?_ » asked Labradorite looking up at the tower. She was with her new friend, a Lace Amethyst.

« _Maybe Peridot is trying the new warp pad_.» Lace Amethyst replied to her tiny friend. As a Quartz, Lace Amethyst had muscular body and wore a garment similar to a strapless one-piece bathing suit; she had two small spikes on her forehead due to corruption.

« _Again? I thought she fixed it this morning…_ » Labradorite and Lace (as a nickname for her) were at Beach City Funland where she worked. Labradorite met her for the first time at Little Homeworld and when she knew Lace worked at Beach City Funland she dropped in to see her and keep her company. The two of them were now good friends.

« _It could be…you know how precise is Peridot_.»

« _I know, Lace. I'm going to check, in case they need help. See you later for a baseball match?_ »

« _You betcha, girl_ ∼» Lace replied and Labradorite returned to Little Homeworld.

When Labradorite came back to Little Homeworld she saw a group of gems at the base of the main tower and they all looked up at the sky.

« _What's going on up there?_ » she asked and Larimar came next to her.

« _The Crystal Gems said they found a dangerous Jasper near the mountains.»_

 _«A…Jasper?_ »


	3. ★3

« _The Crystal Gems said they found a dangerous Jasper near the mountains_.»

« _A…Jasper?_ »

After the crowd disappeared, the Crystal Gems climbed down from the tower. The six of them (Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Bismuth, Peridot and Lapis) were facing Labradorite with a serious face; Pearl had a blue bubble with an orange gem inside it.

« _Labradorite, we need to talk. Let's go to the temple_.» Garnet said abruptly.

★ **TIME SKIP, AT THE TEMPLE** ★

The Crystal Temple was a sacred place where the Crystal Gems live: built in front of the entrance of the Temple was a beach house, the statue on the face of the Crystal Temple was of Obsidian; the statue had four pairs of arms with 4 arms spread out, and the other four converged around the Temple's entrance on the statue's navel.

"Woah…that's huge…" Labradorite thought looking at Obsidian. "That must be by force a fusion…". She was the last one to enter the house.

« _Labradorite, could you please explain this?_ » asked Pear referred to the bubble. Labradorite looked at it and recognised the Jasper.

« _We went near the mountain because we heard some noises and there we found a sort of battlefield_ » Amethyst explained what happened that morning.

« _Is that…a Jasper?_ » asked Bismuth. She had a large, bulky body type with broad shoulders and a strong, flat chest that was wider than her lower body; she was very tall for a non-fusion Gem, being slightly taller than Garnet.

« _So it seems_.» replied Peridot with a suspicious face. « _Labradorite, describe the gem_.» Peridot ordered.

« _Well ehm…She had light red-orange skin, dark red markings and yellow-orange hair…_ »

« _No, not that! The abilities!_ »

« _Uhm she summoned a weapon, had strength…she was really fast. Oh! And she was nimble!_ »

« _An Era-1 gem, as I thought_.» Peridot seemed thoughtful.

« _Do not change the subject, Peridot. Labradorite did not answer to my question yet_.» objected Pearl.

« _I already told you! That pearl said she saved me from a group of Amethysts, we hid inside a cave but that Jasper found us and the pearl fought with her. She then told me to run…that's when we split up. But then I came back and I found this!_.» Labradorite explained and showed the pale gem to them but they seemed not fully convinced, especially Pearl. They all started to argue among them when Garnet spoke in her usual calm tone.

« _I believe her._ »

« _What? Garnet!_ » Pearl protested.

« _I said…I believe her_.»

« _But she is obviously hiding something!_ »

« _Remember, she lost her memory. She believes what the pearl said. So if you want answers, ask your questions to her pearl_.» then Garnet popped the bubble and gave the pearl to Labradorite. « _She will take time to regenerate. When she'll do it, inform us_.» she continued.

Labradorite nodded with the pearl in her hands. « _I will, thanks Garnet_.»

**★★★**

« _From how long has she been that form?_ »

« _I don't know…a week? Two?_.» she sighed looking at Blueberry's pearl. « _Is the regeneration that difficult?_ »

« _The length of the regeneration process can range from minutes to weeks, but a "rushed" regeneration can suffer from physical deformities_.»

« _Really?!_ »

Labradorite was helping Lace at Funland. The two of them started to get along very well especially thanks to their passion for baseball.

« _Of course. This is also one of the only times Gems can make permanent changes to their physical form!_ »

« _Such as?!_ » now Labradorite was curious. None explained her these things.

« _I dunno, for example the hair length or the clothes. You know, Aure, you are talking as if you never poofed_.» if Labradorite called her "Lace", she started to call her tiny friend "Aure" because "Labradorite" was too long. But for "Aure" this did not bother her, at all.

« _Maybe I poofed once…but I don’t remember…_ » Aure sighed, so did Lace.

« _I'm sorry, I forgot…_ » Lace apologised looking down at her, now aware about her memory lapse.

« _I know the feeling_.» both of them stayed quiet for a while then they burst out laughing.

« _Oh Aure, that was cool…a cool joke_.» said Lace between her laughs. They were still laughing when the pearl started to glow then it fluctuated mid-air.

« _Look! She's regenerating!_ » uttered Lace. The pearl's regeneration caught the attention of everyone in the amusement park; few minutes later a silhouette formed in the light and then the solid body of the pearl touched the ground.

And there she was: a 6'4" (193 cm) pearl with light blue skin, pale blue hair that partially covered one eye, dark blue bodysuit and cyan "shoes" and pants. Nothing different from her previous aspect. She was facing the audience, so Aure and Lace were behind her.

« _My Labradorite? Is she shattered? Oh no! What a waste of time!_ » she was starting to panicking.

« _Behind you, girl_.» spoke Lace. The pearl turned and in her eyes you could see little stars.

« _My Labradorite! I've found you! I'm so relieved you are safe!_ » she bow down at Aure, hugging her tummy and crying. Aure was astonished and looked at Lace as to say "Please, send help".

« _Pearl…I mean, Blueberry…please stand up, you're embarrassing me_.» Aure (or Labradorite) said to her with a bright blush on her cheeks.

« _Yes yes, please forgive me, my Labradorite. This will not happen ever again, I swear!_ » she replied still in tears, now upright.

« _Hey Aure, is she always like this?_ » asked Lace.

« _Please, I request a proper language: when you talk to her, she is "my Labradorite", not that silly nickname you gave her_.» Blueberry replied almost with disgust towards Lace. 

« _Pearl, shut up. She can call me in whichever way she prefers. In fact, I choose that nickname. So please, from now on you have to call me "Aure" too_.» Labradorite replied trying to look like as strict as possible. Blueberry was in tears again.

« _Was I too harsh?_ » she whispered to Lace.

« _At all, girl. It's too funny_.»

« _I'm terribly sorry, my Aure!_ » she sobbed.

« _My stars…this is going to be a long day…_ »

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

As promised with Garnet, Aure brought Blueberry to the Crystal Gems at Little Homeworld. Of course the pearl disagreed but she did not express it clearly. She just kept groan all the time.

« _My Aure, is this necessary?_ » Blueberry asked with a sullen face.

« _Yes Blueberry, it is_.» Aure was between the pearl and Lace while walking towards the city. Lace was too curious about this whole situation and wanted to see its end; in addition, later that afternoon, she and Aure had an important baseball match. They soon arrived and then they saw Garnet near the main tower of the city.

« _Hi Garnet_.» Aure greeted her.

« _Labradorite, hello. Hi to you too, Lace Amethyst_.»

« _Sup Garnet?_ »

« _Blueberry regenerated and I brought her to you_.»

« _Blueberry?_ » Garnet asked, now with them at the beach.

« _She reminded me of a blueberry when I first saw her…that's why I call her like that_.»

« _Good, the others want to talk to you…Blueberry_.»

**★★★**

« _Home run!_ » Amethyst yelled. « _Nice shot, Aure_.»

« _Thank you, Amethyst∼_ »

The match was stalemated: both teams had the same score and the players were exceptional. Aure was the only one who sweat and got tired, especially after two hours of play.

« _You can seat at the bleaches if you're tired, Aure_.»

« _Thank you Amethyst, I really need that_.» Aure sat down and watched the match from there. After a while she started to think about Blueberry: she hoped the Crystal Gems would not do something bad to her. After all, she was the only one who knew something about Aure. She needed answers from her. 

« _Go Lace! Smash that bat!_ » she cheered for her friend and Lace gave her a thumb up. Aure was still cheering for her when Lapis approached her.

« _Ehi Labradorite_.»

She turned and smiled. « _Hi Lapis. How are you?_ »

Lapis sat next to her. She wore a backless, halter crop tank top, half blue and half navy; she also wore puffy dark-blue pants and sandals. « _Just fine_.» she replied. She had a strange feeling towards Aure: she respected her, liked her, they were fond of each other but it was as if Aure belonged to something else. Something higher…like a Diamond.

« _If we keep this strategy we could make it!_ » Aure said while watching Lace catching the ball.

« _You know, you should try my sculpturing class, sometimes_.»

« _Are you sure? I mean…I'm not good with manual labor…_ »

« _Don't worry about it. No one is born knowing everything, Aure_.» Lapis replied and smiled slightly at her. Aure smiled back.

« _Thanks! I should try then_.»

They both stayed quiet for a while. The atmosphere around them was different: it was like being in a safe bubble, where no worries or fears could break it; there's calm and silence, the same serenity you could feel in Pink's Dimension (as Steven said many times). Lapis started to doze when Aure yelled something about the game and she jumped up from the bleaches.

« _We won!_ » Aure uttered and joined the rest of her team to cheer up. Lapis stayed seated there watching from afar.

« _You belong to something higher for sure…Labradorite_.»

**★★★**

At first there was darkness then it suddenly became bright and loud. The ground was hard and coloured in many shades of red. She stood up and watched the surroundings: many gems lied on the ground, others were shattered and from afar she could see many soldiers fighting. Her armour was covered with dust and fragments of gems; she looked down at herself: the once grey shining armour was now dirty, around her waist a blue band that matched with her ripped mantle, her gem on her sacrum was protected by her armour and she instinctively touched it. It was not cracked.

Wow hey…she…she is taller now! A lot taller indeed.

« _My Spectrolite! Are you ok?_ »

That voice…Blueberry? She turned and saw her pearl, her trustworthy and loyal pearl. Wait…loyal? Trustworthy? And why is she calling her like that?

« _Hurry, my Spectrolite, we need to go! Those rebels are coming this way_.» Rebels? Which rebels? Where are we? Why is she wearing an armour as well? She wanted to ask her many questions but something else was talking for her.

« _My beloved pearl, if anything happens…please, stay with me. Would you?_ » Labradorite seemed quite sad…as someone who gave up. She took Blueberry's hands in hers.

Blueberry was astonished, shocked and afflicted. « _Anything for you, my Spectrolite_.» she smiled at her, with a slight blush on her cheeks while looking at her hands.

**♦️SNAP♦️**

Aure woke up from her nap, the baseball play tired her a lot. She practically was exhausted after the match, she wished she could be a real gem just not to get tired. 

« _What was that?_ » she rubbed her eyes. Outside Little Homeworld the sky had a wonderful orange shade and a few pink clouds . Aure slept maybe for two full hours, it was almost dinner time. However, she hoped to sleep a bit more after that gruelling baseball play but her sleep was interrupted by this dream.

She climbed down from her hammock between two trees and went straight towards the tower of Little Homeworld in order to use the warp pad. She was still a bit sleepy when she teleported to Beach City, inside the conservatory at Steven's house. Aure recognised Peridot's "touch" in that greenhouse: plants and flowers were healthy and verdant.

Aure left the greenhouse and went at the beach. The sound of the ocean always calmed her, she hoped to fall asleep hearing the sea. She sat down not far away from the Beach House, where the Crystal Gems live. Her thoughts went to Blueberry: she did not see her from that morning.

« _Do not anger them, Blueberry…_ » she said to no one in particular while looking at the house.

« _Who should I not anger, My Aure?_ » a voice called from behind. Aure turned and saw Blueberry.

« _Pearl! I mean…Blueberry! Where were you? I was worried…_ » Aure stood up but the height difference remained pretty evident: Aure was at least 20cm shorter than Blueberry.

« _Oh please, do not care about me, my Aure. I'm a mere servant to you_.» she replied politely, with a hand on her chest and a kind (fake) smile on her face.

« _Nonsense! Tell me, what did they do to you? Were they kind or mean to you? If they were too much harsh, I'll talk to Garnet tomorrow_.»

If Blueberry was human, she would be pale now. Her light blue coloured skin became lighter at her words, she brought a hand over her mouth in horror (maybe?). Aure panicked at her reaction.

« _Oh my stars! I'm the harsh one here…I'm sorry Blueberry…_ »

« _No, please…don’t…don’t apologise, My Aure. It's just…you reminded me of someone I cared a lot…_ » she was still in that shocked state while speaking.

« _Why are you talking in the past tense? Is this person…?_ » but her question made the situation even worse but Blueberry kept everything under control.

« _She…this person…is lost…from a long time…_ »

« _That's why you need my help?_ » asked Aure. Blueberry lowered her head looking at the sand, her entire body was shaking. After a while her tremble stopped and she looked at Aure again.

« _Yes…that's why I need your…help, my Aure. I, alone, am not strong enough…_ » she tried to compose herself but her face showed all the sorrow she was feeling in that moment.

« _Oh, Blueberry…you could tell me before…_ »

« _Well, we did not have time…_ » she smiled a bit.

« _Ah right…we split up…_ »

« _Your human dark circles under your eyes say you had a bad night, am I right?_ »

« _I cannot hide anything from you, right?_ »


	4. ★4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: the Ruby mentioned here is not Garnet's Ruby and the Emerald here is not the same Emerald we saw in the show;

Being with Blueberry was both embarrassing and strange: sometimes she would treat Aure as if she was a Diamond and sometimes Aure found her staring at her. It was like she wanted to say something but a mysterious force stopped her every time. Initially she hated Little Homeworld: she wanted to highlight that « _The real Homeworld is completely different than this mess of houses_.» but then…she discovered Lapis' class. Her first lesson was quite funny.

« _Hello Aure, blue pearl…_ »

« _Actually, everyone now calls me "Blueberry"_ »

« _Oh really?_ » Aure had the feeling that Lapis and Blueberry will get along soon.

« _We want to try your sculpturing class!_ »

« _I like your initiative, Aure_.» Lapis replied with a slight smile. « _Follow me, the lesson is starting right now._ »

At first, Blueberry stayed in a corner watching the others but a tiny cute Ruby (with her gem on the scruff of the neck) took her hand and went with Blueberry near a table and together they started to sculpt. Blueberry enjoyed the lesson with that Ruby and Lapis to the point that Blueberry asked the entire schedule of that class.

After that lesson, the cute Ruby kept following them, especially Blueberry. The two of them seemed to be fond of each other even if the Ruby did not say a word. Then Aure brought Blueberry at her hammock between the two trees but the pearl seemed offended.

« _Do you sleep outside? This is outrageous_.»

« _Blueberry, I sleep under the stars…it's different._ »

It was almost dark and the orange colour of the sky was quickly being replaced by the black. Blueberry and the Ruby were still together.

« _My Aure! Before your recovery time, may I ask you something?_ »

« _What is it?_ »

« _Can we keep her?_ » she asked and her blue big eyes were shining. « _She wants to stay with us!_ »

Aure looked at the Ruby, now in Blueberry's arms like a baby, then back to the pearl.

« _She said nothing…_ »

« _I can assure you, My Aure! She is untiring!_ »

« _It's not a dog that we can "keep", Blueberry. She is a living gem: she, alone, has to decide if she wants to stay w-_ »

« _Yes_.» Aure was interrupted by the Ruby: she had the cutest voice ever.

« _Thank you, my Aure! You're so kind!_ »

« _Wait, what?…_ »

**★★★**

That Ruby was fantastic. Despite her silence, she knew a lot of things: how to fight, how to play music, how to relax with yoga (« _Thanks for that, Garnet_.» Aure would usually say.). She was silent for most of the time but she would chat both with Aure and Blueberry. The pearl was getting used to live in Little Homeworld but eventually she became friends with Yellow Pearl.

« _This is the Beach City Funland! My favourite amusement park_.»

« _It's the only one, girl_.»

« _Details, Lace, details…_ » Aure was showing Funland to Blueberry and Ruby. Lace was there, of course, to work. The three of them were waiting their turn to the roller coaster when the sun was suddenly darkened by something. Everyone stopped and looked at the sky, the warm sunny day became cloudy, cold and dark. Then from the clouds, numerous spaceships appeared: they had a simple design but with many colours (grey, grey-white, brown, greenish, pale green, blue and yellow mostly); these ships flew over the amusement park towards the Temple but the most astonishing thing were not those ships but the mothership instead: in the sky there was a small spherical ship as big as half Moon with a bright stripe around it; it was sloped to the right like a normal planet.

« _It is a fleet…_ » whispered Lace looking at the mothership.

« _Yellow Diamond?_ »

« _No, we are in peace, remember? It's someone else…_ »

The mothership stood there, in the atmosphere while the little spaceships flew over their heads slowly. Aure was in bliss looking at them, they were immense and impressive while Blueberry disappeared. Aure stood there with Ruby and Lace.

« _Where is Blueberry?_ »

« _You mean your pearl? She is behind my ring toss…_ » a voice said behind them.

«Blue Lace Agate…» Aure recognise her. She was tall and broad-shouldered with three horns located on her head; she had teal complexion with peach blotches and long, curly, light blue coloured hair.

« _Ehi sis, is she shuddering like a leaf?_ » Lace asked.

« _Yeah…I tried to comfort her but she was panicked somehow._ »

Aure left Blue Lace Agate and Lace (Amethyst) behind her and with Ruby they came closed to the ring toss: Blueberry was huddled in a corner shuddering and crying.

« _Hey Blueberry…are you ok?_ » asked Aure but she did not answered. Then she continued: « _Blueberry, please tell me…did you recognise these ships?_ » at the mention of the ships, she shivered more.

« _Blueberry…I don’t want to force you but this is important. If you know something, at least talk to me and me alone_.»

« _And me_.» added Ruby. Then Blueberry, defeated, gestured them to come closer; both Aure and Ruby climbed over the ring toss and sat next to her.

« _Yes, I know who they are…this is the fleet of Emerald._ »

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

Emerald "Maragda" was one of the most important pilots in the ex-army of Yellow Diamond. She, with her crew, travelled in the universe to help gems in trouble. From the beginning of Era 3, her fleet would no longer destroy planets or conquer people but saving them; it was not only a simple fleet but the round mothership was also a real court with the most important (and rare) Gems inside.

However, neither Aure nor Ruby saw Maragda from the amusement park; it was Blueberry who gave them her description: she had a dark green complexion, large, spiky light green hair divided in two different big locks in the front while behind they were dark green, and two prominently pointy fangs; she had large rectangular shoulder pads, dark green and large high-heeled boots; her gem was on her forehead and on her chest she had the "Great Diamond Authority" symbol (with all four colours).

« _Why is she here?_ » asked Aure.

« _I don’t know…she travels in space all the time, I cannot find any possible explanation…_ » replied Blueberry. She, Aure and Ruby were still behind the ring toss.

« _Are you afraid of her?_ »

« _Well…she doesn’t like me much…_ » Blueberry seemed uneasy: she looked away from Aure and Ruby and talked in general.

This fleet stood in the sky for almost two hours; while waiting, many spaceships started to do some acrobatics in the sky. The people on the ground thought they were going to attack and started screaming and running around the place. After 30 minutes of pirouettes, all the spaceships returned inside the mothership and it disappeared. The sky was blue and sunny again; even so the people was still scared about the event.

« _We should talk with the Crystal Gems…_ » suggested Aure.

« _No, not now…_ »

**★★★**

Later that afternoon Blueberry was with Ruby at Lapis' lesson but Aure was not in mood of sculpturing. She looked up at the sky where once was the mothership and thought about her dream: she recognised Blueberry but the other person…herself? She was that tall woman with her? Aure didn’t know, she was confused to the point that she was afraid to sleep in case she will dream again.

Aure lied on her hammock still looking at the sky. She was dozing off when someone patted her shoulder.

« _Uh?_ » she opened her eyes but saw nobody. Then she looked down and there was Ruby, with a tiny bag in her hands. « _Do you need something, Ruby?_ » She obviously said nothing; instead she took something from her bag and gave it to Aure.

« _What is it? A sculpture?_ » she took the sculpture and observed it: there were two dolphins who jumped out of the water.

« _Ruby, it's beautiful_.» she smiled at her and was going to give the statue back to Ruby when she stopped her. « _It's…for me?_ »

Ruby nodded. « _Friends._ » she said looking at her then smiled.

« _Oh Ruby, thank you. Of course we are friends_.» Aure smiled back. Blueberry was right, Ruby was really cute. They were both happy. « _Want to relax with me?_ »

Ruby nodded and Aure picked her up; they lied on the hammock with Ruby's head on Aure's shoulder. Aure didn’t notice but Ruby was in bliss: not for the gesture but for the "protective barrier" she felt around her: a sort of private dimension where everything was fine, calm and quiet. Soon Ruby dozed off in Aure's arms.

★ **TIME SKIP, THE NEXT DAY** ★

Aure felt something heavy on her stomach. She woke up and saw the cute face of Ruby: she was staring at her intensely.

« _Uh good morning, Ruby…_ » she yawned.

« _I told you Ruby, she was only recovering her energy for today_.» Blueberry explained. « _My Aure, I brought you the so called "breakfast": an edible wheel with pink decorations and a can of a sugary drink_.»

« _A doughnut and a juice?_ »

« _Indeed!_ »

Ruby climbed down from the hammock and so did Aure, then she ate her breakfast.

« _I was wondering, my Aure…you forgot everything about you…are you not curious about your past?_ »

« _Of course I am, Blueberry_.»

« _Then I have an idea! Why don’t we travel around the world? Maybe if you see familiar places your memory will come back!_ » she seemed oddly happy about this, as if she depended on it.

« _But I don't know any "familiar places"…_ »

« _I will help you with that!_ » she replied quickly. « _Please…I care about you_ » she looked down at her feet. Ruby gazed at Aure for a moment then back to Blueberry.

Aure sighed and gave her juice to Ruby. « _Blueberry…you know, maybe you're right. If I stay here at Little Homeworld I will never discover myself…and if I have to do it, I want you to be with me. And Ruby of course, if she wants to come_.»

« _Yes._ » Ruby replied with her cute voice.

Aure's answer made Blueberry's head raise, she seemed relieved; she had tears in her eyes. « _Thank you, my Aure…thank you!_ »

« _Can I have more of this?_ » asked Ruby raising the juice to Aure.


	5. ★5

« _I understand your point, Labradorite, and we are not against it. At all_.»

« _Really Garnet?!_ »

She nodded. « _Steven did the same few months ago. It's important to know who you are_.» 

« _Thank you, Garnet!_ »

Aure thought that warning the Crystal Gems about her travel was important and necessary. She would bring Ruby and Blueberry with her as well. She thanked every Crystal Gem and went to say goodbye to her friends at Little Homeworld.

« _What?! What do you mean you leave?!_ » Lace uttered with amazement when Aure told her so.

« _You know Lace… I don’t remember anything and staying at Little Homeworld will not help my memory_.» Aure explained hoping she would understand.

After few minutes of silence, she spoke again. « _Who's coming?_ »

« _Well…Blueberry and Ruby…_ »

« _Nobody else?_ »

« _No, just the three of us…_ »

« ** _I'm coming too!_** »

« _W-What? But Lace…_ »

« _I don’t care! You know what? You need protection and only an experienced Amethyst like me could do it. I don’t trust your pearl, Blueberry. Someone must watch your back!_ »

« _And your work?_ »

« _Screw the work! We are talking about a life! **Yours!**_ »

This sudden statement of Lace made Aure blushing a bit. Nobody talked to her so frankly, expressing the worries with candour. While Blueberry was focused on Aure's memory, Lace was indeed worried about her life. For a gem like Aure, who could not summon a weapon or being strong enough, she needed someone like Lace.

« _Well…Lace, I don’t know what to say…I would appreciate your company_.» she smiled slightly, still embarrassed by her previous statement.

« _Good! That's what I wanted to hear!_ »

★ **MINI TIME SKIP** ★

« _Everyone's ready?_ » asked Aure. Ruby and Lace nodded, Blueberry groaned. It seemed she was not happy about Lace. They were standing on the warp pad at the top of the Little Homeworld's tower.

« _Good, then let's go! To these…familiar places!_ » and the warp pad activated, teleporting them to their first destination.

**★★★**

**♦️ FIRST LOCATION: COMMUNICATION HUB**

« _Welcome to the Communication Hub!_ » said Blueberry quiet satisfied by her assertion. « _It is an ancient place that was once used by the Homeworld Gems thousands of years ago to communicate through space_.»

« _Woah! It's huge!»_ uttered Aure _. «It's a sort of antenna?_ »

« _It's not so primitive…this is pure Gem technology!_ » Blueberry seemed enthusiastic about the whole situation. But Aure was not understanding a thing.

« _Yeah girl, it's like a human antenna_.» said Lace noticing Aure's difficulties. Blueberry was somehow offended.

« _Thank you, Lace_.» Aure thanked her and climbed down from the warp pad. For Aure's eyes, that structure looked like a giant cathedral with many pillars and triangular patterns; there was nothing inside except for a ray of light that reached the clouds up to the space. She could feel the desert's warm wind and some grain of sand that tickled her skin.

« _We are near the desert…_ »

« _To be more specific, we are **in the middle** of it._» said again Blueberry. « _Let's take a look, shall we?_ »

The group went near the Communication Hub and if you paid particular attention you could hear a low white noise from the light. Lace observed the pillars, Blueberry was talking to herself about the gem technology and Aure was with Ruby near the light.

« _Do you hear it too, Ruby?_ » asked Aure referring to the white noise.

Ruby nodded. « _It's dangerous here…_ »

« _What? About the light?_ »

Ruby shook her head. « _Not that. Look behind it…on the pillars down there._ » she pointed to some pillars with scratch on it.

Aure opened her eyes wide at that sight. In that exact moment, Lace yelled something: « _Everyone close! We are not alone!_ » from her gem on the chest she summoned her weapon: a giant club with sharpened thorns. Blueberry did the same and her saber appeared.

« _My Aure, stay near the warp pad! We will deal with it!_ » suddenly a sort of condor flew above them; it touched the ground with his long, slender legs, its enormous mouth was on the chest and from its forehead you could see a sort of long neck with a fake head on the top; inside its mouth there was an orange glow. There were two…no, three of them now.

After a long, frightful and unhuman scream the three creatures attacked them. Even Ruby attacked the creatures (her weapons were two half-moon blades that together formed a sharp disk). Aure realized she was the only one without a proper weapon or a defence system; she hid behind a pillar, watching the battle from afar; each creature attacked one of her friends: Blueberry was nimble and tried to confuse the enemy, Lace was actually hitting the bird with her giant club and Ruby tried to ride it.

Suddenly, Aure saw Ruby being knock down on the ground with some bruises on her.

« _Ruby!_ » she instinctively called her but she soon regretted it because the creature was running towards her. The bird raised a bit thanks to its wings and with its long, clawed legs tried to attack Aure. She fell back, far from the pillar, and went behind another one; the creature kept following her and sometimes it could hit the pillar with the head because of the rushed movements. The bird was quite clumsy but dangerous.

Abruptly, the condor managed to grab Aure by her leg; it clawed her making some scratch and wounds. Her jeans were partially ripped and her blood coloured the sand inside the Hub. The bird yelled again, its drool went all over Aure's shirt and face. Meanwhile Lace poofed one of the condors, so did Blueberry and when they head the unhuman scream they turned.

« _Aure!_ » called Lace, ready to poof it but the condor was already ready to attack Aure. Then two things happened: one, a bright green-blue beams of light appeared from behind Aure, gradually forming a shield around her; two, something shining went through the bird, splitting it up in two then it poofed. The gem fell in the sand with a dull sound. After a while the shining object came back to the owner: Ruby.

« _My Aure!_ » uttered Blueberry and run towards her. Aure's green shield disappeared, leaving her quite shocked and afraid. Blueberry kneeled down next to her, checking her wounds on the leg while Lace was trying to calm her.

« _Guys don’t worry…I'm fine. Ehehe_.» Aure laughed a bit but she was internally suffering because of her leg.

« _This…this is all my fault! I should know that we could meet corrupted gems…I should have prepared you…trained you…_ » Blueberry was blaming herself for this incident while treating Aure's wounds.

« _Don’t say these things, Blueberry…you could not imagine that in our first destination we would have encountered these gems…_ » Aure tried to comfort her. « _Anyway…what were they?_ »

« _Corrupted Gems…_ _they_ _were Gems who had become corrupted assuming monstrous and nigh-incoherent forms. As a last effort in the war the Diamonds sent out a flash of bright light which corrupted Gems from both Homeworld and the Rebellion on Earth…_ » explained Lace, now serious. Then she continued: « _I was one of them…_ »

Aure was astonished, she didn’t know that. Maybe her colours, so different from other Amethysts, were the consequence of this…corruption.

« _I'm sorry Lace…I didn’t know that…_ »

« _Don't be, girl. It's not your fault_. _Good job out there, Ruby!_ »

Meanwhile Ruby bubbled the three gems and made them disappear; then she came closer to the rest of the group.

«Thank you for saving me, Ruby.» said Aure. Ruby smiled at her, happy that she was alive. «Your weapon is very cool.»

« _They are two half-moon blades, good for an hand-to-hand combat_.» replied Ruby.

« _We have to rest here…she needs a good amount of sleep in order to quicken the recovery_.» Blueberry told to Lace and she nodded.

Tomorrow they will choose their next destination. More relaxing this time!


	6. ★6

Oh no, that dream again. But this time Spectrolite was not on the ground anymore. Instead, she was fighting: she was brandishing a long javelin with a golden grip and the shaft in a medium light shade of green-cyan. A large gem was attacking her but with a swift movement she managed to poof her, letting the gem falling to the ground. She did not have the courage to shatter it so she run away as far as possible from it.

Spectrolite was wearing a heavy but strong armour even if gems did not need it. Around her many other gems were fighting against each other: this Rose Quartz was making troubles both here on Earth and at Homeworld. The Diamonds were not happy about her attempts to free the Earth from Pink Diamond's oppression. But this time, the Rebels were winning; the Diamonds had to find another solution.

Spectrolite saw from afar a gem in trouble: it was-

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

Aure woke up because her leg was hurting again. She tried to sat up but the pain was too strong and decided to lying down and wait. She could see they were still at the Communication Hub: Blueberry and Lace were talking about something near the light and Ruby was observing the scratches on the pillars. She was the first one to notice Aure's gaze on her and she turned.

Ruby smiled and came closer to Aure. « _How are you?_ »

« _It's a bit uncomfortable here but I'm feeling more refreshed now…and you? I saw the gem from before that it knocked you down. Are you alright?_ »

« _Yes, Rubies are strong_.» she lifted her arm to show her muscle.

Aure laughed. « _Of course you are, Ruby_. _Do you know our next destination?_ »

« _They talked about the Temple of the Frozen Fragment and Scorching Shard._ »

♦️ **NEXT LOCATION: Temple of the Frozen Fragment and Scorching Shard**

« _Welcome to the Temple of the Frozen Fragment and Scorching Shard!_ » uttered Blueberry. The temple was located above a short hill near a warp pad that leads to a long stairway above; its outer appearance resembled a Greek temple.

« _So many steps…_ » pointed out Aure. Her leg was still bandaged and she was in Lace's strong arms.

« _Don’t worry girl, I'll carry you_ ∼»

« _I can walk, Lace…_ »

« _No, you can't._ »

« _My Aure, your leg needs to heal. It's your top priority. I'm sure this place is safe, Steven Universe was here years ago_.»

« _Oh…_ » everyone was talking about this Steven Universe but Aure didn’t know him. Garnet said he was the hero of every gem and human, Pink Diamond's son…but who is Pink Diamond?

« _Inside that temple there are some interesting inscriptions, we should take a look_.» said Blueberry after few minutes of silence. The group climbed down from the warp pad and started to go up the steps. Ten minutes later, the four of them arrived at the entrance of the temple.

« _Here we are. It's pretty simple but historically important_.» Blueberry was in her "guide mode" and started to explain everything about the temple: inside there was only a long hallway with a purple floor; in both the right and the left wall there were big windows with blue, red and light blue triangular patterns; at the end of the corridor there was a statue with a diamond shape symbol behind it. It seemed the statue was made to carry two (missing) things.

« _The statue carried two temperature sensitive gems: the "The Frozen Fragment" was on the palm of the statue's right hand while the "The Scorching Shard" was on the left hand's palm. Now those gems are bubbled and safe at the Crystal Temple_.»

Aure noticed the statue had two large pillars at its sides. « _What about them? Is that…a language?_ » she referred to the strange symbols sculpted on them.

« _It's the native languages of Gems_.» replied Lace. « _Can you not read it?_ »

« _I…I don’t know…_ » she became sad and lowered her head.

« _That's why we are here, my Aure! Eheh!_ » Blueberry tried to cheer her up but failed.

The four of them started to look around, Ruby seemed to be amused by that place. Lace and Aure were together and the Amethyst was explaining to her the Gem Glyphs and their meaning.

« _Who is that?_ » asked Aure pointing at a mural sculpted in the stone.

« _She was…Spectrolite, a terrible pilot and warrior…she served all the Diamonds with her peerless fleet. Yellow Diamond, thousands of years ago, gave to Spectrolite one of her colonies as a reward._.»

« _Spectrolite?_...»

« _You see, the sphere in her left hand represents her mothership. The other sphere is her colony. She was appreciated by the Diamonds during Era 1 and 2…but after the war against Rose Quartz nobody saw her ever again._ »

« _So Lace…the fleet we saw at Beach City…was Spectrolite's one?_ »

« _Yes, I believe so…but now that Spectrolite is missing, Maragda and Pyrope are the new leaders_.»

« _You mean…the Emerald?_ »

« _Yep! She is Spectrolite's right-hand man_.»

« _Spectrolite_ …»

« _Aure…are you alright?_ »

Aure was staring at the mural: its green eyes, the blue sphere in one hand with a blue stripe around it, a green one in the other hand and the blue skin. Her head was spinning like a top, she was feeling ill.

« _Aure? You are scaring me, girl…_ » Lace was worried. Then suddenly…

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

« _Dad, can you play with me please?_ »

« _I cannot dear, I'm working…_ »

« _Wahh dad! These stones are so shining…can I have one?_ »

« _One day Cordelia…one day you will have your own gemstone_.»

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

« _My Aure! Please answer me!_ » now Blueberry and Ruby were next to Lace too. Everyone was looking at her with worried eyes.

« _Uh? Ah…Blueberry…I'm sorry…I just…fascinated by the mural, don’t worry_.» Aure tried to explain with a slight smile but her head was still spinning. 

« _You don’t fool me, my Aure. Lace, let her sit down for a while._ » 

Aure sat there, under the statue of the temple watching her friends: Blueberry seemed deep in thoughts in front of the mural, Lace tried to lift Ruby up to let her touch the ceiling. Aure smiled but then frowned: did she have a dad? Who was he? And who is Cordelia?

"Is Cordelia…my true name? Or someone I knew before?" she thought and sighed. Aure was still watching Lace and Ruby when Blueberry came closer to her.

« _Do you feel better?_ »

Aure jumped a bit for the surprise. « _Blueberry! You scared me…_ »

« _I'm sorry, my Aure_ …» she sat down in a lower step than Aure's one. « _You were so pale a while ago_ …» Blueberry did not dare to look at her directly so she just watched Lace and Ruby.

« _Blueberry…can I ask you something?_ »

« _Of course, anything_.»

After a pause, Aure talked again. « _Do gems have dads?_ »

Blueberry took her time to answer. « _Few years ago I would consider your question as…funny. But now, after Steven Universe…I say…sometimes_.»

« _Sometimes?_ »

« _Yes…Pink Diamond, to give birth to Steven, sacrificed her physical form for him. Now her gem is Steven's and they share the same powers and feelings. But it's a rare case…why do you ask?_ »

« _It's just…curiosity_.» Aure hesitated.

« _Did you remember something, my Aure?_ »

« _I'm not sure…just a little conversation: a child named Cordelia asked her dad to play with her but he said no. Then she saw a lot of gems on his desk and asked if she could pick one; her dad replied that one day she will have her own personal gem…that's all…_ »

Hopefully Aure could not see Blueberry's face in that moment: her pupils were narrow, her forehead had sweat on it and her usual light blue skin was paler.

« _It's strange…I never heard someone called Cordelia, my Aure_.»

« _I see…never mind Blueberry, don’t worry about it._ »

« _Can I…take a look at your leg, my Aure?_ » she asked to change the subject.

« _Ah yes…go ahead_.»

**★★★**

That's basically how their trip began. Every now and then they would fight some corrupted gem, bubbling them and sent them to the Crystal Temple, or met other people (both gems and humans). Meanwhile they saw the beauty of the landscape: mountains, lakes, forests, deserts; everyone was enjoying their little trip, they became more attached one another.

Sometimes Aure would remember something but it did not make any sense for her: at times she was tall and intimidating or, on the contrary, she would be a cute little girl named Cordelia. But she learnt a lot from her dreams: the tall gem was a stern military member with an austere sense of duty yet sometimes she was truly gentle and kind with other Gems; Cordelia was more friendly but lonely (her dad never play with her). But, in those dreams, she could not see herself: the POV was always in first person and she could not see her face or body very well. It was something that annoyed her, she wanted to know who she is: the tall gem or the cute girl?

However, Aure was happy to be with her friends: Lace had a kind heart (« _Gems had hearts?_ »), Ruby was a romantic and cute gem and Blueberry started to have more confidence in herself and she trusted the others more. This trip was helpful for everyone.

« _If my calculations are right, which always are, we should be at Empire City!_ » uttered Blueberry. She was a sort of tourist guide for the group (even if they did not need it). For some reason Lace did not trust her orientation skills.

« _BEEP! Wrong! This is Kansas!_ » said Aure.

« _I disagree, my Aure. This is of course Empire City, I could not be wrong_.» Aure, without speaking, pointed at the main sign near the road: WELCOME TO KANSAS. 

« _How could this be possible! I did my calculations right!_ » Blueberry started talking about calculations, orientation and geography for the entire time they entered the state. 

Kansas: the hub for the movie industry. Did you have an idea for a movie or a TV series? You must go to Kansas. Did you want to become an actor? You must go to Kansas. Did you want to write a good book that take place in a big, crowded city? Then you must go to Kansas. That's how Kansas worked.

« _I will ask to those human the direction for the nearest city_.» spoke Blueberry (still a bit offended by her error). These "humans" she talked about were a group of people that were working near the road: they had many film cameras, costumes, accessories, caravans and cardboard cutouts.

« _Excuse me fellow human. Could I ask you how mush far is the next city?_ »

Blueberry was almost a 2m slender, thin build gem and when a "tall" guy approached her she did not move a single muscle.

« _I'm sorry you cannot stay here, it's a private property_.»

« _It's not! It's just a passing place for cars. Plus, I only asked for directions_.»

« _I don’t care what you asked, you cannot stay here. Now go away or I should escort you to the exit_.»

Blueberry started to lose her patience and summoned her saber. « _How dare you, human, to talk to me like that!_ »

« _Stop Blueberry!_ » Aure cried from behind and run towards her, followed by the others.

« _No no it's perfect! Your position, the special effect to summon the weapon, your outfit…it's magnificent, sublime, diviiiiine!_ » a man from behind the security guard said. The man came close and shooed the security guard.

« _A woman as extraordinary as you must be a famous actress! What's your name?_ »

« _Uh…I just asked for directions, I don’t want to create a friendship with you_ …»

« _This strong but sensitive creature is Blueberry∼_ » replied Aure. The pearl's face became dark blue for the embarrassment.

« _I knew you had a wonderful name! I'm Rodney T. Miller, director…and you are hired for my movie!_ »

« _Whaaaaaat?!_ » Lace, Blueberry, Ruby and Aure yelled together.


	7. ★7

« _That's the plot: Mason is a father from South Africa who falls in love with his neighbour. The two are separated when the neighbour goes away to war. However, Mason manages to rescue the situation by hiring an aeroplane! An aeroplane!_ » Rodney T. Miller said. Ruby, Lace, Aure and Blueberry were not certain about it.

« _This is all your fault, pearl…_ » whispered Lace.

« _How many times should I apologise?! I asked for directions!_ » she whispered – yelled back.

« _Our wonderful actress will be Thelma, Mason's neighbour_.» he pointed at Blueberry. « _You will be Mason!_ » then he pointed at Ruby. « _Hmm…you could be Wynell, Thelma's maid_.» he talked to Aure. « _Finally you can be the sheriff! That's perfect!_ » he glanced at Lace.

« _W-Why should she be my maid?_ » Blueberry seemed offended.

« _Blueberry please…let's finish this already…_ » replied Aure. « _I will serve you as best as I can, my Lady._ » Aure bowed down at her. Blueberry blushed mad.

Later that morning, Rodney Miller gave them the costumes: Lace wore a black suit with a metal bright star on her chest and black hat, Ruby wore white shirt and tie, Blueberry had a light brown dress with puffy shoulder pads while Aure wore a simple black and white maid dress.

« _This is so uncomfortable_ …» Blueberry tried to slacken her tight dress.

« _I really like my star costume…what is this called?_ » asked Lace.

« _You are a sheriff, Lace…a country police chief_.» 

Ruby was strangely quiet, even for her usual behaviour. « _Are you alright, Ruby?_ » asked Aure. Ruby just nodded and looked down at her feet. Something was wrong but Aure didn’t want to push her.

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

« _Action!_ »

« _Lady Thelma, please! Listen to me! The heart of Lord Morgan will break_.»

« _My dear Wynell, I have to. My country needs me in the battlefield_.» 

« _Oh my Lady, I will wait for you forever_.» 

« _I'll come back Wynell_.» 

The two ladies exchanged a lovely embrace: lady Thelma had a nurse uniform while her maid, Wynell, had a simply black and white dress. The two women seemed bonded. 

« _Hey Lady Thelma…uhm I mean…my Lady, your carriage and our body guards are ready_.» 

« _Thank you sheriff_.» 

The two women and the sheriff left the house; lady Thelma climbed up in the carriage. 

« _Oh my Lady, look! It's Lord Morgan! He is coming this way!_ » 

« _Oh Lord Morgan!_ » lady Thelma looked from the carriage's window. 

« _Lady…Thelma, I came here…because_ …» 

Ruby stopped herself and her acting; she looked down as if she was ashamed and started to shiver. Then Rodney Miller stopped the shooting, claiming 10 minutes of break.

« _Ruby!_ » she run away from them. Lace, Aure and Blueberry looked at each other with worried and questioning eyes. After a while Aure went in search for Ruby and eventually she found her behind a caravan with her knees against her chest.

« _Ehy Ruby…is everything alright?_ » Aure went closer then she sat next to her. They stayed in silence for a while then Ruby broke the silence.

« _I don’t like the script…_ »

« _It's a lot mushy with too many clichés_.» Aure laughed a bit; later on, the silence came back between them. Aure didn’t want to ask her immediately her problem, she wanted Ruby to feel comfortable with her.

Then it happened again: the relaxing bubble. Ruby felt herself lightweight like as a feather, in a distant and safe world with no noises or problems. In that moment, Ruby spoke again.

« _Thousands of years ago, I fought with other rubies in the battle against Rose Quartz. At that time, I met a so called "defective" Sapphire, a pink one…she was the most beautiful gem, everything under her touch would blossom or come to life. But the war…the war took her away from me…I never saw her after that…_ » she was telling her story with romantic sadness.

« _Oh Ruby_ …» Aure offered a hug which Ruby accepted. She sat at Aure's lap while warm tears fell down her cheeks. « _I think I understand your sense of loss…it's something powerful, like a monster. But we are warriors, remember? We can beat these monsters…I fight against them every day. Sometimes I want to give up, let them eat me…but then I remember all of you and this gives me the strength to win. Remember: we are here for you, anytime and anywhere. And I'm sure Pink Sapphire would not want to see you sad...her memory in your heart will make everything blossom again, as Pink Sapphire wished_.»

Ruby looked up at her with puffy, wet eyes. Aure looked back at her with a gentle smile. Ruby hugged her again and stayed in Aure's lap for a while, just to calm herself down.

Almost 10 minutes later, Ruby stopped crying and a tiny smile was on her face. « _Let's finish this movie, Aure?_ »

« _Of course, Lord Morgan_ ∼» Aure laughed.

★ **LATER THAT AFTERNOON★**

« _That's it! We've finished for today! Excellent work everyone!_ » the crew clapped at the end of the shooting. After all, it was funny; Rodney Miller was a good person and director and so were the other actors and the stuff.

The shooting lasted more than one week. Rodney gave them the largest caravan he had (despite this, it was still small for Lace) and he offered board and lodging for everyone. Ruby and Lace started to love their role as Lord Morgan and the sheriff; only Blueberry was a bit annoyed by her part: she didn’t like having Aure as servant. But Aure reassured her: « _It's fine, Blueberry. It's a movie_.». But this didn’t mean that normally she was Aure's servant; on the contrary Aure deeply respected her.

After almost three weeks the shooting ended and Rodney organised a party on the last day of work: music, good food and drinks. The group took a photo with Rodney too as a souvenir. However, after that party, Aure, Blueberry, Lace and Ruby had eventually to continue their trip and Rodney took them with his white limousine to the nearest city in Kansas. After a soppy farewell, the four of them continued on foot their travel in Kansas.

★ **A MONTH LATER** ★

« _I wonder how was the movie we made in Kansas…_ » Aure was resting under a tree near a dirt track while eating some CHAAAAAPS. Kansas was far from them.

« _I have to admit I really enjoyed that…human ritual of creating stories_.» Blueberry was (once again) trying to figure out their next destination. They were still chatting when a car behind them honked. They turned and saw a white limousine while from the back seats a man came out.

« _My best actors!_ ∼»

« _The human director!_ »

« _He's Rodney Miller, Blueberry_.»

« _Rodney **T**.Miller to be exact. Next week the movie will be available in cinemas and theatres! You have to take part at it._ _But wait…»_ he noticed after a while. _«Are you leaving? You cannot! We have a tour!_ » the director seemed concerned and his sunglasses were in precarious balance on his nose.

« _We are sorry but we have our own tour, Mr. Miller_.» Aure tried to be as polite as possible.

« _At least accept these…_ » he gave them four DVD copies of the movie.

 _«"Country Love"…it sounds good, Rodney!_ » uttered Aure.

« _Thank you darling_ ∼» Rodney fixed his hair.

« _Watch you language, human_.» surprisingly this statement was not from Blueberry but from Ruby who was silent until that moment. She didn’t like the "darling" thing in his speech.

« _Well…thank you Rodney!_ »

« _You'll see, the movie will be a success_ ∼» suddenly his phone rang. « _I'm sorry, the work. We'll see in the future mh? Bye bye_ ∼» he climbed on his limousine and his driver drove away.

« _I hate him…_ » Ruby spoke again. Aure laughed a bit looking down at her, stroking her hair. This made Ruby smile.

**★★★**

They were walking straight to Keystone to try "the Best Diner in the World". The motel in front of it had a pool! Ruby was sleeping in Lace's lap, Blueberry was trying to understand a human map and Aure was behind them, sweaty and tired.

« _Are we there yet?_ » asked Aure.

« _Not yet, my Aure, I'm sorry_.» replied Blueberry. The sky was a bit cloudy and the wind cold as in winter. Everyone stopped and Aure bumped Lace's back.

« _Why did you stop?_ » asked Aure while massaging her nose. Then she looked up at the sky, where her friends were staring. « _What's wrong?_ »

Then she saw it: the fleet (both the spaceships and the mothership) flew over their head. The shimmering colour was shining despite the cloudy day. However, Blueberry was in panic and hid behind a bush.

« _Blueberry?_ » Aure noticed her strange behaviour every time that fleet would appear in the sky but she didn’t know the reason.

Not so much far from them, one of the spaceships landed in front of them: it had a diamond shape with the two upper side longer than the others; this spaceship had an iridescent green – blue colour and when it touched the ground it produced a white smoke. The tip end of the spaceship opened and two figures appeared from the smoke, one tall and the other a bit smaller.

« _It's Maragda…_ » whispered Lace.

« _All rise for the most luminous, precious and shining Green Emerald!_ » the smaller figure spoke first, announcing the second one. Maragda, the Emerald, stood arms crossed in front of the group with a stoic face; the smaller figure was her pearl: she was all green except for legs, arms and hair (in a dark shade of green), she had a sort of light green bodysuit with puffy shoulder pads; her gem was located in her navel.

« _Was that necessary?_ » asked Aure but her tone was too much louder and Maragda and her pearl heard that too. The Emerald closed her eyes and her eyebrow twitched while the pearl seemed to be deeply offended.

« _It is always necessary, human. To highlight your position compared with ours._ » the green explained.

« _Let's get it over with. We are searching for a dark blue pearl, with puffy light blue hair and skin. She is a war criminal and we have to catch her_.» Maragda finally spoke. She didn’t dare to open her eyes and look at the group, she thought they were not worth it.

"They are talking about Blueberry!" Aure thought.

« _So, did you see her?_ » asked Maragda.

« _Wait, what do you mean by "war criminal"? What did she do?_ » Lace asked back astonished almost ignoring Maragda's question.

« _She is accused of the shattering of Resplendent Spectrolite_.»


	8. ★8

« _Wait, what do you mean by "war criminal"? What did she do?_ » Lace asked back astonished almost ignoring Maragda's question.

« _She is accused of the shattering of the Resplendent Spectrolite_.»

Aure could not believe it: Blueberry, a pearl that barely could distinguish the north from the south, a war criminal? Moreover, a crime like a shattering. Aure heard a similar story from Garnet before but this was a totally different case.

« _Well, we didn’t see her anywhere_.»

The green pearl wasn’t convinced, Maragda was staring at them with a piercing gaze then sighed.

« _It's completely useless here, pearl. Let's go back_.» Maragda turned and went in the spaceship followed by her pearl. The spaceship closed and it soared from the ground. The group was staring at the spaceship while it floated but suddenly it started to shake.

« _What's going on there?_ » asked Lace.

« _They're losing control of the ship_ …» said Ruby. Only in that moment Aure noticed she was awake. One of the engine was on fire and a black smoke stunk out the air.

« _Let's get out of here!_ » yelled Lace and grabbed Aure by her shirt. She lifted her on her shoulder and run away with Ruby; meanwhile the spaceship was losing pieces and at the end it exploded. Its pieces were scattered on the ground creating little craters. Aure saw that Maragda was thrown away somewhere while her pearl went in the opposite direction. When the situation calmed down Lace, Ruby and Aure left their hiding place.

« _Weren’t Emeralds skilled pilots?_ » asked Aure.

« _They're supposed to_ …» replied Ruby. With the corner of her eye, Aure saw something blue darted in the bushes.

« _There! Blueberry!_ » Aure leapt behind her followed by Lace and Ruby. The exhausting running ended when the group reached an abandoned tower in the middle of the forest. At the top of the tower they found Meragda a bit stunned and Blueberry at its base with her saber.

« _Blueberry!_ » Aure called.

« _Stay behind, my Aure! She is dangerous!_ » she warned. Meanwhile Meragda regained consciousness.

« ** _There you are, blue pearl_**!» Meradga shouted against Blueberry, ignoring the rest of the group.

« _What do you want, Emerald?_ » asked Blueberry.

« _I must consign you to Ammolite! You shattered Spectrolite!_ »

« _It's not true! I could not!_ »

« _And who do you think Ammolite will believe? An abandoned and defective pearl or a respected Emerald?_ » then she laughed.

« ** _Do not say anything like that!_** » yelled Aure in a fit of rage; her gem was shining though her shirt. « _Lace, throw me up there._ »

« _B-But girl_ …»

« _Please Lace, throw me there_.» Lace Amethyst grabbed her and threw Aure at the top of the tower.

« _My Aure, no!_ » cried Blueberry a bit desperate.

When Aure reached the top of the tower, from her gem a sort of handle showed up; Aure took it and a long sharp javelin appeared: it was a 2.5m (8' 20") spear with a golden grip and a shaft in a medium light shade of green-cyan. Meragda turned pale (more like light green) at the sight of the javelin.

« _That…that is…_ » she stuttered and kneeled down in fear as if she recognised the spear. Aure aimed at Meragda's face, near the nose.

« _Did you say something?_ » Meragda shuttered in fear and terror, staring at the tip of the javelin.

« _P-P-Please_ … _I cannot climb down…have mercy_ …» she cried still threatened by Aure's javelin.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group managed to reach the top of the tower: Lace helped Meragda while Ruby was with Aure. When all of them went down, Meragda summoned her weapon: it was a sort of green battle axe with a golden grip. The group took a few steps back ready to attach.

« _It's not over, blue pearl! Now I know your accessories and they were criminals as well thanks to you! We will see again!_ » then she laughed and ran away. Meantime, Aure was feeling faint; her spear disappeared and she dropped on her knees. Her head was spinning and she felt as she was to vomit.

« _My Aure!_ » she heard but her hearing was hollowness. In that exact moment she lost consciousness.

**★★★**

The Diamonds were not happy about her attempts to free the Earth from Pink Diamond's oppression. But this time, the Rebels were winning; the Diamonds had to find another solution.

Spectrolite saw from afar a gem in trouble: it was Emerald, her right-hand man. She was fighting against two large Amethysts. Spectrolite intervened and poofed the two Amethysts, then with her yellow boots she shattered the gems.

« _Emerald! What are you doing?!_ » Spectrolite shouted at her, Emerald lowered the head in submission. « _You have to crush them! Without esitation!_ » Spectrolite was angry.

« _Yes, Resplendent Spectrolite. It will not happen again, Resplendent Spectrolite_.»

Aure could not control herself anymore in her dreams. She was a simple a spectator. Spectrolite was taking control of her body.

« _It would be better for you…or you'll end ep the same way as those Ametysts_.» 

Suddenly the scene became out of focus and the battlefield was replaced by a cold grey floor and colourful computer screens.

« _Dad, where did you find those gems?_ » now Cordelia was much taller than the previous dreams, she was a teenager.

« _All around the world, dear_.»

« _Why this one is stuck in a crown?_ » she pointed at an oval gemstone with full spectrum of rainbow colours.

« _That is a Spectrolite, a variety of Labradorite that can only be found in Finland. It is set in that crown because if you take it off it starts to glow_.»

« _Really?!_ » Cordelia seemed interested in her dad's work about gems. Even if once she found strange creatures in his lab with gemstones stuck in them, her dad was enthusiastic about his work.

« _Do you like the Spectrolite, Cordelia?_ » asked her father while pressing some buttons of his computer.

« _Yes! Its colours are wonderful, it reminds me of the Aurora Borealis we saw together once!_ »

« _Then I will give it to you_.»

« _Really?! As a necklace? Or as earrings? Or maybe as a bracelet?_ » Cordelia was excited as if she was going at her first date.

« _Nothing like that, dear. It will be something more…physically tied with you_.»

« _Uhhhh? Like a ring?_ »

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

Aure started to wake up; her head was heavy and her lower back was aching. When her sight came back to normal she noticed she was lying under a tree, the foliage moved with the wind. From afar she could see the abandoned tower, then she remembered the events of before.

She sighed, dragging her knees to her chest; from her seat she could hear her friends chatting worried about her but they were a bit far. Aure then stood up and walked away from them, deep in thought. She had a lot of things in her mind: was Spectrolite really shattered? How was Blueberry involved in this story? Did she really do it? And why Aure had Spectrolite's memories in her?

She was so deeply in thought that she didn’t notice how far she was walking from her friends. She saw the remains of Meragda's spaceship on the ground, it lost its iridescent green-blue colour showing a cold grey metal sheet. Aure went beyond it and she found herself in the woods again; that part of the forest was cooler because there were bigger trees.

After a while Aure snapped back from her thoughts when she heard groaning somewhere close to her. On the ground she saw a scrape between the trees.

"It avoided skilfully the trees…" Aure followed the scrape until she saw a fallen tree. She heard another groan from the fallen tree but she waited silently. Suddenly someone stood up dusted off leaves and dirt from her uniform.

« _It's unbelievable! That old, stupid spaceship!_ »

Aure, **not in mood for kind conversations** , summoned the javelin again and pointed it on the lower back of the other person. When then it turned, the tip of the javelin was pointing right at the gem. Aure immediately recognised her, she was that green pearl. Immediately the pearl went serious but Aure could see fear in her eyes. 

« _What do you want?_ » asked the pearl with bravery (or stupidity?).

« _Before, when your miserable owner ran away with her tail between her legs, I was interrupted…_ » Aure started to talk but something in her was wrong. « _Tell me more about "your mission"_ » Her voice was almost different from her joyful tone. The pearl must have noticed this and paled.

« _M-Me and…Emerald have to find Resplendent Spectrolite's pearl…she is accused of her shattering thousands of years ago, during the war against Rose Quartz…_ » the pearl replied terrorized.

Aure paused a bit before speaking again. « _Have you got witnesses of these…crime?_ »

« _Yes, someone saw her…I swear! That's all I know! I'm just a pearl made to serve, please! Have mercy!_ » she cried. Where did go her ego and bravery of before?

Aure lowered her javelin. « _Get lost…_ » the pearl rushed away in fear, running like how Meragda did hours ago.

Then suddenly Aure felt a painful headache; she felt different, as if someone was talking in her head and wanted to control her. At the same time, another "force" tried to calm her down, tried to re-establish her true peaceful nature. The headache made worse, the two forces were fighting against each other, using Aure's body as battlefield.

« **YOU CANNOT WIN AGAINST ME** »

« _Enough! Just stop it! It's not supposed to go like this_.»

« **ONLY I CAN DECIDE WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS NOT! YOU HAVE NO POWERS, HUMAN** »

« _If necessary, I will suppress you forever_.»

These two voices were fighting in Aure's head: one powerful, hungry and full of hate; the second was gentler, almost childish. They were both talking inside her head when suddenly Aure's gem on the sacrum glowed, wrapping her in a blue-green shield; when the shield was complete around her, everything went silent: finally, peace and calmness were back and Aure's head was free from those two voices. She could think and feel again with her own body and senses; she kept her hands on the head for the entire time but when everything stopped when she lowered them.

The shield disappeared only when everything was quiet again. Aure sighed still shocked and confused but not scared anymore. That must be the powers of her gem, the Labradorite: it balanced and protected the aura and raised consciousness.

« _Damn_ …» she said after a while.


	9. ★9

Aure did not tell anyone about her experience with the voices in her head. She thought she was the only one that could solve this problem, even if she wished to talk at least with Blueberry. She kept her secret for weeks but the situation was becoming desperate.

♦️ **NEXT DESTINATION: BETA KINDERGARTEN**

« _This is an abandoned Kindergarten facility. This site was established half-way during the war against Rose Quartz to create more soldiers for the battle._ »

Considered as the smaller and less developed Kindergarten created on Earth, the Beta Kindergarten was established to create new soldiers for Pink Diamond's army. This Kindergarten remained famous for the large number of defective gems they originated there.

« _Here many Jaspers and Carnelians were made_ …» said again Blueberry; her eyes were worried, maybe because she remembered her fight again a Jasper few months ago.

« _What's that?_ » asked Aure pointing at a large machine with a massive drill with a giant red, gem-like ornaments on the top.

« _It's an Injector…Gem machines that were used to embed nascent Gems into the crust of planets, where they would gestate before emerging_.» replied Ruby before Blueberry could think at a proper answer. They kept talking about Injectors and Kindergarten then they started the exploration: Ruby and Lace went in one direction, Blueberry and Aure to another.

Blueberry started to tell details and other stories about the Gem culture but Aure was not listen to her, she had something else in her mind.

« _And that's why Fire Salt will cause a burning sensation in the mouth of the consumer_.»

« _Blueberry, can I tell you something?_ » Aure interrupted her a bit suddenly.

« _Yes sure, my Aure_.»

« _How much do you know Spectrolite?_ » this question made Blueberry pale. A lot pale. Her eyes became narrow (in fear or horror?) and her lips trembled a bit.

« _W-Well…I met her in her mothership many times, nothing more…why?_ »

« _Because…you know…weeks ago, when we saw Meragda with her pearl for the first time…something happened_ …» Aure started to explain without looking at her.

« _Something happened? Are you hurt?_ » she quickly asked worried.

« _No no, I'm fine…I mean…now I'm fine…but that day I was not_ …» she sat on the ground with her knees against her chest. Blueberry looked down at her for a while then she sat next to Aure. If this situation occurred at the beginning of their friendship, Blueberry would have assailed her with worried questions; but now that she knew Aure more, she just waited for her to speak again without pushing.

« _I found the green pearl in the forest and I asked her about your "war crime"…she told me about Spectrolite's shattering but it's not important now. Suddenly I felt angry, furious…I wanted to beat that pearl with all my forces for what that Emerald said. Then my voice changed in a powerful, vengeful tone…full of hate. At the same time a gentler and innocent voice talked to her, asking to calm herself down but the other voice said "you have no powers, human" or something like that. Then suddenly everything disappeared…my mind was calm again. Those voices came from my own mouth, Blueberry…what's happening to me?!_ » Aure had wet eyes, for the first time she was not the joyful person of the group. At that sight, Blueberry hugged her tightly. Aure burst into tears and hugged her back. Blueberry's pearl pressed against her chest was warm and smooth at the contact.

Blueberry waited until Aure used up all her tears to speak again. « _My Aure, I could only imagine your confusion and sorrow in this situation…I'm glad you decided to tell me even after so much time. However, this is a serious issue…you see, sometimes Gems could…influence their physical form with memories or fragments of them. I really wish to give you a more satisfying answer but that's all I have now…maybe it's Spectrolite who's trying to-_ » Blueberry stopped herself abruptly, putting both of her hands on her mouth.

Her sudden interruption made Aure snap. « _What? Who? The influence of **who**?!_» Aure yelled at her standing up in a matter of seconds.

Blueberry kept her hands over her mouth, muttering something as if she wanted to speak but she could not. « _I…I cannot tell you…I'm sorry…_ »

« _What do you mean you cannot?! Why?!_ » she continued yelling at her. Now it was Blueberry's turn to cry: a flood of tears poured over her face and hands, her sobs were the only audible sound in that part of kindergarten.

« _Someone…someone powerful…ordered me not to tell anything…until the time comes_ …» 

« _What the hell are you talking about?! Who gave you that order?! No, wait…it's true! You cannot tell me! I'm sorry I forgot_ … **RIGHT, I FORGOT!** » Aure moved backwards a bit at the sound of her voice.

« _No wait, don’t get mad. You know it's not the solution_.»

« **I WANT MY MEMORY BACK! SHE'S ONLY HINDERING ME!** »

« _She is not. She's just carrying out your own orders. You cannot blame her. Now please calm down, your anger will not lead us to the truth_.»

Aure came back in her senses and looked at Blueberry: not only she was still crying but her face was in terror as if she saw something scary. « _Just leave me alone_ …» Aure replied with her usual voice then ran away with tears in her eyes, that place was becoming oppressing.

Blueberry tried to run after her but her legs were weak, unable to support her weight. She fell on her knees after few steps, her face still wet because of her tears; she tried to reach Aure out with her arm but she was too far away. Blueberry continued to whisper the same two phrases: « _I'm sorry_ …» and « _Come back_ …»

**★★★**

After their little argument at the Beta Kindergarten, Aure and Blueberry did not talk to each other for a while. Lace Amethyst and Ruby noticed the tension between the two and got worried. Despite this, they didn’t know how to handle the situation: should they intervene or not?

The fire crackled in the silence between the four friends; after the Beta Kindergarten, they chose a calm river near the woods to rest for the night (even if only Aure needed to rest). They sat in a circle with the fire at their feet; suddenly, Aure stood up.

« _I'm going to find some firewood_.» she turned and moved away from them towards the woods. Blueberry raised her head, looking at Aure with afflicted eyes. Lace watched the entire process and sighed.

« _You messed-up, pearl?_ » asked Lace but nobody answered her.

★ **MEANWHILE** ★

Aure was still thinking about what Blueberry said days ago at the Beta Kindergarten: « _Someone…someone powerful…ordered me not to tell anything…until the time comes_ …». Aure hated metaphors and philosophic sentences.

She started to pick up some firewood from the grassy ground; the woods smelled good: moss, mushrooms and wild berries. Aure started to calm down a bit thanks to the darkness of the woods. This relaxing atmosphere was interrupted when something grabbed Aure's shirt from its lower edge. She looked down and she saw two large eyes staring straight at her.

« _Bwah!_ » she uttered in fear and all the firewood she picked up fell to the ground. The eyes followed the firewood's spill for the entire time.

« _Oh_ …» it was the unmistakable voice of Ruby who followed her from the campfire.

« _Ruby! You scared me…you could have warned me you wanted to come with me_ …»

It was hard to see Ruby in the darkness, she was dark red from her hair to the toes. Aure sighed and kneeled down to get back the firewood. Ruby helped her.

« _Did_ _you and Blueberry argue?_ » she asked.

At first, Aure did not reply, unsure of whether or not to tell Ruby about it. However, she soon gave up. « _Yes_ …»

« _Did she make you angry?_ »

« _Yes…a lot_.» Aure picked up all the firewood and returned to search them on the grassy ground, this time with Ruby's help.

Between the two reigned the silence, enjoying the sound of broken twigs under their feet. Aure loved this side of Ruby's nature: she knew the right moment to speak and the right moment to stay silent.

« _Back at the Beta Kindergarten, Blueberry said something that made me crazy_ …» started Aure while picking up another firewood.

« _What was it?_ »

«" _Someone…someone powerful…ordered me not to tell anything…until the time comes_ "» Aure broke a twig. Ruby stared at the broken firewood still in Aure's hands.

« _There's an explanation for that, Aure. If humans had dogs, Homeworld Gems had pearls: it doesn’t matter how cruel, violent or oppressive their owners are, the pearls will always be by their side. They are expected to be utterly **submissive** and **obedient**_ **.** _This was the situation until Era 3. However, some pearls decided to stay by their owner's side._ » explained Ruby.

« _Don’t blame Blueberry for what she did…it's in her nature_ … _she will not, in any case and under any kind of torture, disobey her owner…whoever she is_.» she continued.

« _It's…despicable! Pearls have their own identity!_ »

« _Not for the ancient Diamond Authority_.»

« _Unbelievable_ …»

★ **AT THE CAMPFIRE** ★

« _You messed-up, pearl?_ » asked Lace but she didn't answered her. « _You are not forced to tell me, ya know. It's just that me and Ruby noticed…tension between you and Aure_.»

« _I…I disappointed her…she will not trust me ever again_ …» Blueberry said, her voice cracked a bit.

« _Uh? How? You gave her the right directions?_ » Lace tried to make her laugh but with no results. The situation was serious.

« _I promised to my owner I would protect her gem…and she ordered to keep the secret until the right time will come. But this secret is consuming me_ …» she put her hands on the face and started to cry, as she did in the past days many times.

« _Who is your owner?_ » Blueberry did not answer. « _Right, you cannot tell_ …» Lace Amethyst sighed and looked at the pearl, she was more desperate than usual.

« _Listen here, pearl. I know Aure since her name was still Labradorite, thus I can tell you a couple of things. She trusts everyone, even the strangers…I mean, look at me! I was a corrupted gem back then and when she saw me after being healed she said "«I love everything about you! You are so beautiful.»" when **I** was the first who did not believe in myself. So you are totally wrong if you think she will not trust you again. Tell her what you can and she will understand…do not push her away_.» 

Blueberry was looking at Lace with wet and wide open eyes. She realized Lace was right: Aure could have sent her away multiple times, she could leave her at any moment. Yet, Aure did not do that: she accepted Blueberry from the beginning, she even came back to the cave to search for her.

« _So now move and go get her!_ » said Lace. Then Blueberry stood up suddenly and she ran in the woods with determination in her wet eyes.

« _My Aure, where are you?!_ »

★ **MINI TIMESKIP** ★

« _I think we picked up enough firewood, Ruby_.»

Ruby nodded with a lot of twigs in her hands. « _I will come back to the campfire. Lace is waiting._ »

Aure looked down at her and smiled: she had few firewood stuck in her square afro-like hair. « _Yes, let's go back_.»

« _I think you have something to do here_ …»

Aure was confused. She had nothing to do in that part of the forest. Ruby went away, leaving her behind; she was going to follow her when something knocked her down.

«Waah!» Aure hissed in pain once she fell on the ground.

« _I'm sorry, my Aure, I'm **so** sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you, it's the last thing I want! I want to be useful, I want you to trust me!_» Blueberry kept blabbering about trusting, rules and replacements.

« _Blueberry…your head is flattening my stomach_ …» Aure was suffering internally: when Blueberry knocked her down they laid on the ground with Aure's back in the grass and Blueberry on top of her. Well, Blueberry's head was on Aure's stomach in an attempt to hug her.

« _My stars, I apologise!_ » she raised and helped Aure to do the same; now both were sitting in the grass. « _I'm a disaster, I should be replaced as soon as possible…I'm defective in everything…I'm-_ » she cupped her head with the hands, starting to panic when she was interrupted by Aure: she grabbed Blueberry's wrist forcing her to look at her.

« _Nobody is going to replace you, Blueberry. No pearl can do that. Even if someone creates a gem like you, it will always be a copy. Understood?_ » Aure's voice was so calm and hypnotic. It was like being in a safe bubble as Ruby once said to Blueberry; the pearl could see the sincerity in Aure's eyes: no different voices, anything. Just her, Aure. Blueberry wanted to smile but tears started to fall down her face.

« _I_ -» Blueberry tried to say but no words were necessary. The simple touch of Aure's hands on Blueberry's wrist was enough for both of them.

« _I have to admit…I was a bit rude back to the Beta Kindergarten. It's just…I wanted to know… **so badly** about me and what I am. I felt teased by you, as if you wanted to hide me things. But Ruby explained me a couple of things and now I understand_.» Aure kept her eyes closed during her speech. At the end of it, she opened them again to look at Blueberry (who was still in tears). Then, to reassure her, Aure smiled at her.

This made Blueberry cry more. But this time, her tears were joyful; she jumped and hugged Aure, more tightly this time. They both laughed and laughed as the two rolled over the grass. They were still laughing when a bright light wrapped them.

Then the laughs stopped but the happiness was clear in the air and in their hearts. They both could trust each other fully like the king and his knight; then suddenly, all went black.

I opened my eyes but my sight was a bit blurry yet. When it adjusted to the darkness of the place, I sat on upright, a bit confused about what had just happened. I massaged my temples because a pounding headache was making me feel ill.

I stood up on what appeared to be a grassy ground with many trees around me. It was a deep forest; the air was fresh and far away I could hear the sound of animals moving in the trees.

I looked at myself: long slender legs, as if I was a ballerina, dark blue skin and fluffy navy blue hair, full of curls; I wore a sort of classic dance dress in a wonderful blue-green shade and thin black skirt; the pearl on my chest was shining.

I touched the pearl on my chest then the other gem on my sacrum: they were both warm and smooth.

« _Who am I?_ » I asked to nobody in particular still caressing the pearl. Then the answer popped suddenly in my head. « _My name is Larvikite_.»


	10. ★10

♦️ **LARVIKITE POV** ♦️

« _My name is Larvikite._ » 

I cupped my face with my two hands but I sensed four eyes: two were larger than the other. Then I touched my hair. « _So fluffy!_ ∼»

I had a wonderful sensation inside me: happiness, trust, confidence and power. Then a sort of sixth sense told me I have to get out that forest, someone was waiting for me.

★ **AT THE CAMPFIRE, NORMAL POV** ★ 

Lace and Ruby were near the fire trying to roast some marshmallows.

« _Do you thing that pearl will make up with Aure?_ » asked Lace then she swallowed all the marshmallows in one bite. Ruby looked at her as to say "did you really do that?".

« _Yeah, you know them…they are tied somehow_.» Ruby ate her marshmallow and pierced another one in her stick. Then suddenly they felt quick steps. Quick **heavy** steps from the woods. They summoned their weapons forgetting the marshmallows.

They were ready to fight when in the darkness of the woods they saw light blue lights, like tiny fireflies. A 2m (6'.5") blue gem appeared and looked at them. When she noticed the weapons she backed a bit.

« _Who are you?! Did you attack Aure and that disoriented pearl?!_ »

« _A…disoriented pearl? Is this what Blueberry is for you, Lace?_ » Larvikite asked, laughing softly.

« _What? Wait…pearl…is that you there?!_ »

« _I'm Larvikite, I craved for meeting you, Lace and Ruby: Aure has an excellent opinion about both of you_.»

« _Aure and that pearl… **fused**?!_»

★ **MINI TIME SKIP** ★

« _Ruby, can I have another marshmallow?_ » asked Larvikite. Ruby passed another bag of marshmallows with a smile. Larvikite could not see that, but Ruby and Lace were hiding their shocked faces very well: Ruby was screaming internally for the happiness while Lace had an incredibly shocked face.

« _Are you going to stay…like that for a while?_ »

« _Let me enjoy the feeling, Lace. Then I promise all Aure's attention will be back to you_.» replied Larvikite.

« _It's not that_ …» Lace pouted and looked away.

« _How are you feeling?_ » asked Ruby.

« _Wonderful. I'm happy, complete…and I have four eyes!_ » she cheered. When they consumed all the marshmallow Larvikite unfused: Blueberry landed gracefully while Aure was thrown away a bit.

« _That was amazing!_ »

« _I think you made up with Blueberry, right Aure?_ » asked Lace.

« _Yeah, I think so_ ∼»

**★★★**

Slowly, the group started again their trip. Obviously Blueberry had the same absence of orientation as before, thus they got lost many times. They visited Ocean Town, the Sky Spire and the Galaxy Warp.

♦️ **NEXT LOCATION: EMPIRE CITY**

« _Before going to Empire City, I propose to rest for a while at this service station_.» said Blueberry.

« _Are you sure we are near Empire City?_ » Lace was unsure.

« _Don't worry Lace, I helped her with the map_.» reassured Aure and Ruby nodded.

Then, in front of them, a service station stood at the side of the road with a large parking. Its white wall and red ceiling had vintage wheels as decorations; the interior was even more vintage than the exterior with old and fascinating objects.

« _I'm going to eat something at the restaurant… is someone coming?_ » asked Aure.

« _Me, my Aure_.»

« _Me and Ruby will wait for you here, go ahead_.» added Lace.

Aure nodded and with Blueberry they went towards the restaurant area. Meanwhile Lace and Ruby stayed in the main hall looking around.

Blueberry stayed with Aure at the restaurant for something like 45 minutes because of the crowd at the cash register but when they returned to the main hall they did not see Lace and Ruby anywhere. They looked inside the service station for a while but their two friends were anywhere.

« _There! I saw Lace!_ » uttered Aure pointing at a figure sat at table with other people.

« _What is she doing?_ » asked Blueberry. The two girls came closed to Lace and noticed Ruby too; Lace sat at a table with a man and on the table there were many coloured cards.

« _Lace, may I ask why these cards are arranged so messy on the table?_ » asked Blueberry.

« _It's a game, pearl. Now shut up, I need to focus_ …» Lace replied abruptly to her, making Blueberry blush for the embarrassment. On the table (with a strange green tablecloth) there were not only cards but coloured poker chips too. Ruby was not understanding, Blueberry seemed interested while Aure was terribly worried.

« _Uhm Lace…I don’t want to interrupt your…game but there is something I want to ask you_ …»

« _What is it?_ » she looked at her.

« _You are playing poker…have you got money to bet?_ » she whispered her.

« _Money? No why?_ »

« _Because to play poker you need to bet money and win them! Of how much are we talking about?_ »

« _They said something like 500$...is that bad?_ » Lace started to feel guilty.

« _We don’t have so much money!_ » Aure whispered again.

Blueberry and Ruby heard the conversation and started to worry as well. They were in big trouble.

« _We need to get out of here_ …»

Suddenly, Lace stood up from her seat, flipping over the table and everything on it fell on the ground. The other human gamblers started to argue with Lace; the situation became tense because Lace was much larger and taller than the human and maybe he didn’t notice this **tiny** detail. Instead of starting a fight, Lace with the others ran out of the service station followed by four humans who demanded their money. They kept running in the woods (again) until they were sure it was safe.

« _That was close_ …» said Aure out of breath.

« _I didn’t know human used their currency to play card games!_ » uttered Lace.

« _Not all human card games use money…there are many that don’t require money to have fun!_ »

« _Yes but_ …»

« _What is it, Ruby?_ »

« _We are lost again_ …»

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

The group was stuck in the woods without any reference point and the map was not helping (especially in Blueberry's hands). She and Lace were trying to figure out a good path to follow or, at least, find a good place to rest for the night.

Ruby and Aure sat under a tree watching the other two chatting and arguing about directions and roads, waving the map in the air.

« _Maybe I have an idea…I hope my memory will help me this time_ …» Aure looked up at the sky, observing the sun's positions while setting behind the mountains; then, with some junk in her bag and inside Blueberry's pearl, she managed to make a compass.

« _The Nord is that way…the sun is setting there so it must me the West…Here, now we can orientate ourselves!_ » Blueberry, Lace and Ruby were looking at the handmade compass with starts in their eyes.

« _A mass of primitive stuff can create something useful as a compass! My Aure, you are really brilliant!_ ∼»

« _Aww come on now, it was nothing_.» Aure scratched her nape a bit embarrassed.

« _Empire City, that way_.» now it was Lace with the map in her hands, thus everyone started to follow her in the woods. After a while the group was again in the roads not too far from the service station. They quickly started to walk as fast as they could in order to arrive at Empire City before night.

**★★★**

Someone once said "What happens in Empire City, never sleeps".

The city had many buildings that differ in their architectural designs. The city also had buildings designed with more modern design such as skyscrapers. But the most magnetic thing about Empire City was its vastness and its bright light; it was like the entire world was reproduced there: you can have pyramids, French restaurants or Asian temples in one place.

« _Wow…I'm already in love_ …» said Aure in bliss.

« _All those light will produce a lot of light pollution_ …» pointed out Blueberry.

« _These cars too…it's very crowded here_.» Lace looked at the road with an infinite queue of cars.

« _Yeah but…it's amazing_ …» Ruby was in bliss too, with stars in her eyes.

The group kept walking, their noses stuck at the sky to watch light games and skyscrapers more than on the ground. It was already evening and they need a place to rest; day by day, Ruby was appreciating more the "sleeping" part of the trip while Blueberry didn’t see the benefits of that practice.

« _Hey guys, look at this!_ » uttered Lace. She was looking at a poster glued on a pole.

" **Housesitting in exchange! You don’t want to spend the money on hotels? This could be an option for you! Many single or family home/apartment owners are looking for house sitters to take care of home and pets! If interested call this number: XXXXXXX** "

« _This is so cool! If you take care of their pets or house, they make you stay!_ » Aure was excited, maybe she was imagining herself with a cute dog. « _Let's do this!_ »

« _My Aure, I disagree. It's not hygienic living in a stranger's house. In addition, we have to clean that and take care of their domestic animals_.»

« _Blueberry, I need a comfy bed and a shower right now. Empire City is expensive and I already know we cannot afford hotels. Do you have better ideas?_ » Blueberry stayed silent for a while, thinking at an alternative solution, but then she sighed.

« _No better ideas, I'm sorry_ …»

« _Well, Housesitting in exchange will be!_ »

After many calls, the group found a tiny house who needed to be cleaned up. The owner was an old human man who could not physically do the cleaning; sometimes his nephew would do it for him but he was not always there. The house is not much big: once inside, you’ll find a living room with a removable oak and spruce top, a large sofa surrounded by windows, a bookshelf and a dining table; the kitchen lied in the middle of the house and was neatly equipped to cook food; the parent’s loft bedroom was accessible through a ladder, while the kid’s bedroom was accessible by a safer staircase; lastly, the house had a bathroom complete with a shower and a composting toilet. This in an apartment at the centre of Empire City.

« _It's suffocating_ …» pointed Lace. She was the tallest of them (she was 7', or 2.14m) and the apartment did not make her move well.

« _Here the apartments were all like this, we saw it in the folder_ …» said Aure. « _But wait! We have a solution!_ » she opened an wardrobe and took a strange large fluffy cushion. She put it in the ground, next the window and fixed it a bit.

« _Try this, Lace!_ » said Aure with pride. Lace came close to it, sat on the ground with her back against the fluffy cushion. « _So?_ »

« _Hmm…this is super comfy! I love it_.» replied Lace, relaxing her body against the pouf. Aure nodded happily and went straight towards the bathroom to take a shower.


	11. ★11

She laid on a cold bed with many medical machines attached to her body; her gaze was dull even if her vital functions were good. She was alone in that aseptic room: white ceiling, white walls and white bed sheets.

" _How could he do that to me_ …?"

The only thing she could do was thinking, she did not have the energies to do anything else. She trusted her father, she loved him and she thought he loved her too. She was his daughter after all. But he took advantage of her love to betray her.

" **I told you he is not worth it, child** "

" _You have been talking in my head for a while…who are you?_ "

" **Do you remember The stone that man stuck in your lower back? Well, that's me** …"

" _You're…that Spectrolite? I love your colours_."

" **Oh, shut up. I didn’t want any of this…you should not be alive, you know? Forcing a fusion with a human? That man made it possible but at what cost**."

" _What do you mean?_ "

" **For those who did that, fusions formed when the participants were emotionally harmonious with each other…it's one of the most intimate thing for Gems** "

This powerful voice was talking in Cordelia's head for a while. Since her father used that Spectrolite on her, this frustrated voice kept talking in her head about various topics, Gems and war in particular. Cordelia learnt a lot from this…presence. Even so, she could not get rid of her easily: she said she was a part of her now. If she dies, Cordelia will die as well.

Cordelia heard the conversations her father had with his colleagues: she would have lost her memories with time and she, alongside with Spectrolite, will try to take control of the new mind. The winner will have a new body and a new life.

" _You and me…will work together…it's a promise_ "

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

Aure woke up, surrounded by Lace's fluffy hair. Instead of using the bed, everyone wanted to sleep with Lace (except Blueberry, she never slept): Ruby was sleeping on Lace's chest while Aure used her hair as pillow.

She sat on the ground, stretched then stood up. Outside was almost dawn, so the house was still dark. She looked over her two friends and smiled.

"Time for breakfast" she went to the kitchen and found Blueberry: she was reading a cereal box with concerned and focused eyes.

« _Good morning, Blueberry_.»

The pearl rose her head and smiled. « _Good morning, my Aure. Did you sleep well?_ »

« _I wish…with my dreams, I barely sleep_ …»

Blueberry sighed, knowing Aure's problems with dreams. « _This box is full of food…are you hungry?_ »

« _Yeah thanks_.» she filled a cup with milk then Aure added the cereals. She ate her breakfast in silence in order not to wake the others; meanwhile Blueberry was looking at her with disgust because she didn’t understand that practice.

« _Blueberry, can I ask you something about Spectrolite?_ »

« _Uhm…yes, sure_.»

« _Did she like fusions?_ »

« _Fusions? Well, she fused only once with her two subordinates, Pyrope and Emerald. They together form Ammolite…it's also their name as a triad_.»

« _What do you mean?_ »

« _"Ammolite" is not only the name of their fusion but it's also the name of their…ehm…group, I guess? I mean if someone wants to see Ammolite it means you want to see Spectrolite, Pyrope and Emerald together_. _Not necessarily the fusion_.»

« _Hm understood_ …» Aure was deep in thought.

« _Why? Did you dream about her again?_ »

« _No no, it's been a while since I dreamt about her_.» Aure drank the milk and washed the cup. Blueberry was reading the cereal box again while Aure washed the cup and between the two the silence was relaxing.

« _Did you…did you dream about something in particular?_ » Blueberry stuttered as if scared about it.

« _Hm…I was in a bed with many machines next to me…Cordelia and Spectrolite talked a lot. The girl felt betrayed by her father_.» Aure put in order everything in the kitchen. She noticed Blueberry was not interested in the cereals anymore, her light blue hair covered her face but Aure saw her hands were shaking.

"Great, something she could not talk about…" Aure thought. She felt bad for Blueberry: keeping that secret for so many years could consume a human being, let alone a gem. She wished her pearl could be free from that secret.

« _Blueberry, you know very well you are not forced to talk about that…I understand_.» Aure tried to reassure her.

« _It's not only that_ …»

« _Uh? So what?_ »

« _You said you saw many times Spectrolite's court in your dreams…but you never mentioned me_ …» Blueberry seemed afflicted. Aure knew that Blueberry was a member of Spectrolite's court (even if she doesn’t know her role yet) and that was true: she never saw Blueberry in her dreams.

« _I saw you once, but not in her court_ …»

Blueberry rose suddenly her head and looked straight at Aure, she was shocked and scared. « _You did?!_ »

« _Yes…you and Spectrolite were in a battlefield…she was strangely calm and gentle with you. She asked you to stay with her in any case…that's all_. _It's my first strange dream_.»

Blueberry sighed but smiled a bit; then she lowered her head again letting her hair hiding her.

« _It's just…maybe this trip is a mistake_ …»

« _What? Why?_ »

« _We bumped into monsters, strange humans and many dangers…because of me we get lost every time and it seems my original mission is going to fail…again_.»

Aure sighed and sat next to her. « _Blueberry, look at me_.» Aure took the pearl's hands in hers. Blueberry looked at her with one eye, the other was hidden behind the hair. « _It's true, we met many dangers in our path but it's a good thing! Thanks to them we improved, we became braver and together we overcame them! Me and you even fused, isn’t it incredible? But most importantly, you taught me a lot, Blueberry: what I am now is thanks to you. You all taught me something, each of you is important to me. Like this trip! It taught us more about ourselves!_ »

Blueberry was looking at her with wet and open wide eyes, like when she and Aure argued at the Beta Kindergarten. She was so stupid thinking those things, Aure cared about the group and the trip as well. They arrived so much far, it was stupid giving up there.

Blueberry laughed between her tears. « _My stars, I was so stupid_ …»

« _You were not, Blueberry. It's normal feeling a bit down sometimes but the important thing is to talk with someone about it_.» she smiled.

Blueberry smiled back at her. « _Thank you, my Aure_.»

« _Anytime_.» Aure hugged her.

**★★★**

They stayed at Empire State for a week, it was too beautiful and they wanted to visit it all (more or less). They were going to enter Jersey when the group spotted a cute shop at the side of the road. It was like a restaurant / motel / clothes shop; it had a gas station too.

They decided to rest there for a bit: Lace tried some fancy clothes just for fun, Blueberry observed with disgust the people eating at the restaurant while Ruby was looking with stars in her eyes a cotton candy cart.

« _Ruby! We have to go now_ …» Aure called her but Ruby stood there with other children.

« _Ruby!_ » Aure called again, this time coming closer to her. « _Ruby, it's getting late_.»

The red gem turned to Aure looking with her puppy eyes. "I have to resist…" Aure thought to herself.

« _Ruby dear, we have to set the tent before night…we don’t have time for cotton candy_.»

Her large puppy eyes became sad, almost tearing up. But then she gave up with a long sigh and moved away from the cotton candy cart.

Ruby kept her head down for the whole time the group stood outside the building; they were going to walk again when Aure gasped.

« _What'up, girl?_ »

« _I forgot my backpack! Wait a sec!_ » she rushed again inside the cute shop. Lace noticed Ruby's long face and Blueberry was a bit worried: Ruby was always happy, seeing her this was strange.

After 10 minutes Aure came back with her hands behind the back. « _Done! We can go now._ » and the group started to walk again.

« _Ah, Ruby?_ »

She looked up at Aure with the same big wet eyes of before. « _Here_ ∼» Aure gave her a big cloud of pink – orange cotton candy which was hidden behind her back.

Ruby's eyes were shining like stars now and she gave a large happy smile. « _Thank you_ ∼» she said with her usual cute voice; she took the cotton candy and ate it.

For the rest of the walk, Ruby stayed almost glued to Aure's leg as an attempt to hug her.

"I cannot say no to that face" Aure thought while looking at Ruby.

**★★★**

Inside the mothership life was pretty boring. Spectrolite's absence was counted: no more balls, no more private parties, no more meetings, no more rescues. Even if sometimes she had a bad temper, she knew how to entertain her court. On the other hand, Meragda was pretty bad in that. She didn’t know how to manage a court with soldiers, philosophers, commanders, builders, aristocrats, scouts, servants and so on.

« _Major General Emerald, Lieutenant colonel Hessonite requests to speak with you_ »

« _Which Hessonite?_ » Meragda asked with annoyance and boredom.

« _Facet 2L6P, cut 7XV, my Emerald_.»

« _Oh, **that** Hessonite…very well, request granted_.» Meragda replied to her green pearl with the same annoyance than before. She was sitting in her sea-green throne in the main throne room of the mothership, with her pearl working at her feet.

Suddenly a dark green screen appeared in front of Meragda: there stood Hessonite, a subtype of Garnets with dark red complexion and pale orange hair in a large curly ponytail; she wore a long almost brown cape over an orange-yellow jumpsuit, thigh mid-calf white boots with red soles and white wrist-length gloves; her gem was not visible from the front view.

« _Lieutenant colonel Hessonite, facet 2L6P, cut 7XV reporting for duty_.»

« _What now Hessonite?_ »

« _Sir, the first moon Iurilia needs another squad of cargo boats and the second moon Uastea has an insufficient amount of Quartzes. We request more provisions, my Emerald_.»

« _What about the main planet, Olliecury?_ »

« _The planet's conditions are good, my Emerald. The resources are more than sufficient and the life forms are not creating problems to our structures_.»

« _Good, I'll send you more cargo boats with a Quartz army right away_.»

« _Thank you, my Emerald. Lieutenant colonel Hessonite, out._ » the communication ended and the dark green screen turned off. Meragda's pearl took it to use it again to do something else.

Meragda was terribly bored: she ignored all the distress calls from gems in trouble and she, from her tiny throne (tiny compared to the massive, giant and impressive Spectrolite's throne above her), supervised only the conditions of Olliecury and its two moons, Uastea and Iurilia, when Pyrope was absent. Olliecury was the only colony in Spectrolite's possession: gifted from Yellow Diamond more than 7000 years ago as a reward for her services, Olliecury was a huge and fascinating blue – green planet with a prominent ring system; it had organic life and Spectrolite decided not to ruin it: the planet was populated mostly by plants and animals (no creatures like human beings there); around Olliecury two moons orbited dangerously close to it, Uastea and Iurilia: the first one was the furthest from the planet (it barely touches the ring system) while Iurilia is the closest moon, completely dead and deserted.

Even if she was the third "leader" of Spectrolite's court and fleet, every high-rank gem would remind Meragda that she was not the right commander with subtle comments.

« _Pearl, any news about that human?_ »

« _Yes, I have new info, my Emerald_.»

« _Something useful?_ »

« _Something **really** useful, my Emerald_.» the pearl grinned evilly.


	12. ★12

The main door of the mothership's hangar opened and a pink-red coloured ship landed. General Pyrope appeared from it, her pearl just behind her. Pyrope was mad at Emerald: she was not doing her job well.

« _Pearl, go call that unqualified green gem. I need to talk to her in my chambers_.»

« _Yes, my Pyrope_.»

She and the pearl matched perfectly with the design of the mothership: she wore a crimson dress with white shoulder pads and poufy sleeves that opened in the lower half showing white boots and red pantaloons; her afro light pink hair were combed upwards; her pearl had a fancy dress too: her pink skin had some freckles on her cheeks, the bright pink hair were curly and a lock covered her left eye; she wore a black dress with poufy shoulder pads (like her owner) with a deep dark violet corset and long black skirt (it was shorter on the front and longer on the back).

Pyrope and her pearl split up but the high-rank gem was always with someone like a soldier, even if it was not necessary. Pyrope walked in the hallways of the mothership with a design a lot different than the other spaceship she saw: translucent floor (with a simple order you can see what's happening in the underlying floor, but from below they saw nothing) with a chequered pattern, fancy golden decorations on the walls and around the windows, particular murals with the Diamonds and other historical events in gem history, luxurious statues (like those on the Sea Spire) and so on.

She arrived at her chambers and her Quartz soldier stayed behind, next to her door. Her room had all the pink-red shades and the style of decorations was the same as the rest of the mothership. She sat at her desk, in front of a giant window facing the infinite space.

After few minutes her door opened again but she did not turn to see who it was.

« _My Pyrope, Major General Emerald is here as you requested_.» Pyrope's pearl spoke. Pyrope turned with her chair. Her pearl walked next to the chair and turned away followed by Emerald's personal pearl.

« _Major General, it sounds like a joke to me_ …» Pyrope started.

« _What do you mean, General?_ » Pyrope always made fun of Meragda because she occupied the lower step in the triad of leaders in Spectrolite's court. Meragda had to obey at every order both from Pyrope and Spectrolite and when something went wrong it was (strangely) always her fault.

« _I heard you found Field marshal Spectrolite's pearl, at last_ …»

« _Indeed, General_.»

« _Good. Where…?_ »

« _She was on Earth, Pink Diamond's old colony, with other inferior gems_.»

« _Did you capture her?_ »

Meragda swallowed hard but her stoic façade never broke. « _I regret to announce you, General, our soldiers did not capture her. She escaped._ » Pyropes were mostly a cheerful (yet snobbish) gem; despite this, Meragda knew when Pyrope was mad at her: slower she spoke, angrier she was.

« _What…do you mean…"she escaped"?_ » even the two pearl sensed Pyrope's rage and started to worry. « _Pearls, leave us alone_.» Pyrope ordered and the two pearl bowed and left the room.

They moved away a bit from the door and sat in a fancy gold-blue coloured bench. The two pearls stood in silence for a while then the pink one spoke.

« _Is it true? Did she really see… **her**?_»

The green pearl nodded. « _My Emerald said yes, so I believe her_.»

« _How…was she?_ »

The green pearl paused before speaking again. « _She…she was different…she changed, according to my Emerald. She said she was protecting a human. But believe me, she was everything but human_.»

« _What do you mean?_ »

« _I lost control of our spaceship, it was going to explode any moment so we ejected ourselves. When I touched the ground I fainted for a while…when I woke up I saw her, the human_ …»

« _What's so special about a human?_ »

« _She had…_ _Resplendent Spectrolite's javelin_.»

**★★★**

« _Lace, watch out!_ » Aure called her and the amethyst avoided the attack. During one of their stop near a high hill, they found a strange looking bird that immediately attacked them. The strange black bird was trying to attack Lace with its long clawed legs: the creature was 10' (3m) tall (6' were only legs) with owl eyes and an ominous black shape; the beak was on top of its head and a bright blue light came from it (there was the gem). The battle was draining and all were tired.

Ruby tried to throw her half-moon blades but she missed the target; Blueberry, who was badly hit by the creature before, stood up using her saber as a cane; Aure, now more accustomed with her new powers, tried to attack the bird but she was too slow.

Even if Lace avoided the attack, the bird managed to hit her in the back, throwing Lace against a rock wall then fainting. Only Aure and Ruby were left and the bird seemed to be more interested in the red gem; the two started to fight heavily. Aure felt helpless, her human side had limits that prevented her to help Ruby; her heart was racing because of fear and horror. 

During the battle, the creature pushed Ruby near the edge of a cliff. Ruby was tired and her body had a lot of wounds.

« _Ruby!_ » Aure cried her name sensing the bird was going to attack again. When she saw the bird soared in the sky, Aure rushed towards Ruby to protect her; she hugged her and then suddenly all went black.

I found myself on the ground with a giant, mangy bird who wanted to attack me. With an incredible strength, I stood up and summoned my weapon: a particular and long sword.

I didn’t have the time to look at myself that my blade turned into a metallic whip and it tied around the creature's leg; I hurled it again the ground many times and when the bird was stunned on the ground, I attacked it with my sword. The owl shape monster yelled for the pain and then poofed, leaving on the ground a square blue gem.

My weapon disappeared and I walked closer to the gem on the ground: I picked it up, bubbled it and then tapped the top of the bubble to make it disappear. Far from me I saw an exhausted blue pearl and the silhouette of an amethyst stuck near the rock wall.

« _Ruby…my Aure…you two fused!_ » said the pearl, while looking at me with surprise.

Then I looked at me: I was much taller than the pearl and my skin had a red-orange tone; I noticed my two pairs of arms, each of them had a darker red colour around the hands and arms; I wore a long wine coloured drape that went down to my shins and a top without sleeves; then I touched my hair: fluffy, curly and silky dark red hair; lastly, I cupped my face: I felt two eyes and plump lips.

« _My Aure, it's fantastic! You managed another fusion without feeling sick!_ » Blueberry stood up on her legs, feeling much better apparently.

Meanwhile, the amethyst was regaining consciousness. I felt rocks falling down on the ground from her body while standing up. She whispered something I could not hear and then turned. She had long fluffy dark violet hair that covered her eyes; I swear if she had them, she would have a disappointed gaze right now. She was looking at me in silence, then I saw her tightening her fists for a second then coming closer to us.

« _Before continuing our travel, we need to regain our strength…all agreed?_ » asked Blueberry. I smiled at her but the amethyst grunted and went away from us.

« _Did I do something wrong?_ » I asked to the pearl. I felt, inside me, that it was sort of my fault.

« _Oh no no! Eheh, Lace is just…tired, that's all_.» the pearl tried to explain. I turned my gaze away from her, looking at where Lace was. Only my left eye, the green one, started to cry. This strange wave of emotions made my vision blur, then it went black.

★ **NORMAL POV** ★

« _Lace wait!_ » Aure called for her trying to keeping pace with her but she was a lot faster than Aure. « _Please Lace! Tell me what's wrong_.»

Then Lace suddenly stopped and Aure bumped against Lace's back and fell on the ground. Lace turned, her mouth in a hurting expression and Aure saw tears on her face despite the hair.

« _I tell ya what's wrong! I understood your game! Your sneaky game!_ » she uttered furiously yet with a tone of sadness.

« _G-game?_ » Aure was scared. And confused.

« _Ya, game! I thought coming with you would be useful because you needed someone to protect you! But now I understand that your only goal is to make me feel worthless! I'm not clever like that pearl or cute like Ruby…I'm a Quartz soldier, an awkward and bulky Quartz soldier!_ » Lace turned again and walked towards the warp pad.

« _L-Lace! Wait! It's not…not like-_ » she tried to stop her again.

« _From now on, no more problems._ » then Lace used the warp pad and disappeared.

Aure looked at it, hoping this was one of her terrible jokes. But she didn’t come back.


	13. ★13

The three thrones in the main room were all occupied: Emerald (Meragda) sat at the lowest seat, above her Pyrope's pink-red throne and above all there was Spectrolite's throne, similar to the Great Diamond's thrones but smaller and coloured in an iridescent shade of cobalt blue. Next to each seat there was the triad's pearls.

« _Pearl, establish a communication with Uastea's base_.» Pyrope ordered and her pearl obeyed without blinking an eye. Then Pyrope started to talk to the Lieutenant Colonel Hessonite about the construction of a new base in that moon.

« _Dear Saiph, please, I want to talk to Lieutenant Colonel Hessonite as well. Establish a communication as soon as possible_.» strangely, that gentle tone came from Spectrolite: a really tall (10', 3.1m) gem with blue skin and blue-green eyes, her body was well built with long legs and muscular arms, her hair had a navy shade of blue in a short bob and on top of it a fancy, aristocratic tiara bejewelled (her "war prisoners"). Spectrolite was tapping holographic buttons in a holographic screen the same colour as her throne.

« _Communication established, my Spectrolite_.» Saiph replied. She was so tiny compared to her owner, but she liked it. Her height made her feel safe. That voice was familiar somehow.

« _Lieutenant Colonel Hessonite, reporting for duty!_ »

« _Hello there, dear Hessonite∼_.» she said while looking at her through the screen.

« _M-my Spectrolite, I already contacted General Pyrope about Uastea's base two_.» Hessonite stuttered a bit.

« _Could you tell me too? Or is it a secret between you and Pyrope?∼_ » Spectrolite asked with a grin, knowing the "friendship" between Pyrope and Hessonite (even if they denied it). She saw with the corner of her eye how Pyrope's cheeks exploded in a cute shade of crimson red.

« _N-n-no secrets, my Spectrolite! Well…hm…Uastea's second base is almost completed and our peridots were already at work_.»

« _Good job Lieutenant Colonel Hessonite. General Pyrope was right when she suggested **you** as supervisor of this project_∼»

« _T-t-thank you, my Spectrolite!_ » Hessonite had crimson red cheeks too now and she was deeply embarrassed.

« _You may go back to work, end of transmissions_.» and their call ended. Spectrolite kept tapping on the holographic screen with a satisfied grin on her face.

« _That was not necessary, Spectrolite_ …» Meragda spoke from her green throne.

« _Come on, Emery∼ It's just for fun_.» Spectrolite laughed a bit. « _If you have a significant other, I will do that to you too._ »

« _You wish_ …» Meragda blushed too but she hid it very well.

« _Come on, Emery!_ _Don’t be like that, it's not funny_.» Spectrolite started and stood up from her throne. Meragda could not see it, but she was right behind her green throne. « _Don't be so mean_ ∼» she made her turn the head by grabbing her chin; their faces were centimetres apart and Meragda could feel Spectrolite's hot breath on her face. This made her blush in dark green more than before.

« _You do have a significant other, don’t you?_ ∼»

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

Aure cried so much that her eyes hurt and her head was throbbing painfully. She looked around in search of Lace but she wasn’t there. So it was true then…she left. Aure felt like she was going to cry again but then she sensed something on her shoulders: there were Blueberry and Ruby, each with one hand on her shoulder, a sympathetic smile on their face. They then kneeled down and hugged Aure tightly. Initially Aure did not cry, she just enjoyed the hug but then, as a fall, her tears started to pour; they were salty, her eyes were burning because of it. Where is the safe bubble when she needed it?

When, despite her sadness, no more tears poured out she actually felt something. Ruby and Blueberry where still hugging her tightly, their warmth was reassuring her somehow: that was her bubble, they were her safety bubble.

« _T-thank you_ …» she whispered.

« _We are warriors_ …» Ruby said looking at Aure. « _Let's fight together_.»

« _Let's overcome this problem too…all together_.» Blueberry talked too. Both of them were looking at Aure with determination and compassion.

Aure dried off her tears and face and stood up. « _Yes! Let's keep going!_ »

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

Wilmingmore was not far from the three travellers but they were still in Jersey. The group was near the beach, wanting to spend the night near the sea.

Suddenly, Ruby pulled Aure's shirt a bit to draw her attention. « _Yes Ruby?_ » the tiny red gem pointed at a poster near a cinema: a vintage poster of a western film called "Country Love" with Blueberry in her old dress hugged with Ruby who was protecting her, then Lace as the sheriff was on a horse with her policemen and Aure was in Blueberry's carriage in a melodramatic pose.

« _Miller's film! Blueberry, come here!_ » Aure called her. The pearl came closer to them and saw the poster.

« _It's that human director…so the film was a success indeed. How strange are humans_ …»

« _I like the poster_.» pointed out Ruby.

« _Yeah it's actually good…and Blueberry, some humans love mushy movies_.»

Blueberry shrugged. « _I prefer action stories_.»

Aure was fascinated by the poster, it was truly wonderful. Then her gaze moved to Lace on the horse and she immediately thought about her. She left the group weeks ago and Aure missed her so much; she missed her puns, her humour, her strength.

Aure sighed. « _Let's buy this poster as a souvenir._ »

The three of them bought four different posters of the film and put them in Aure's backpack. In the theatre someone recognised them and they signed some t-shirts or pieces of paper. Then they left the building.

« _Let's go, we need a place to stay_.»

**★★★**

« _My Aure! Are you listening to me?_ » Blueberry was waving her hand in front of Aure's face.

Aure was lost in her thoughts since they arrived in that place.

♦️ **NEXT LOCATION: INDIAN ISLANDS**

It was raining hard and the humidity was terrible.

« _Yes, sorry Blueberry…I hate this climate_.»

« _As I was saying before, this place is famous in the local folklore: a legend said that an evil spirit from the mountains captures little children and women as punishment for the people_.»

In front of them there was what remained of a village: old structures, moss everywhere and desolation. They were in the middle of the forest with too many insects for Aure's taste.

« _A spirit from the mountains?_ » asked Aure.

Blueberry nodded. « _Well, the actual village moved away centuries ago…these are the ruins of the old one._ ». The group started to look around but they saw only a deserted place: dead trees, abandoned houses made of straw and wood and roots everywhere.

"How can people live here…" the humidity was killing Aure, she was suffocating. The group kept walking together but after a while they split up because the village was really big: Ruby went to the left, Blueberry to the right and Aure kept walking ahead.

She could see the old structure of the village: the market, a temple and an old forge. Aure came closer to the latter, climbed the stairs and observed the main building; she summoned her javelin to cut some branches from her path and went inside. It was even more ruined than outside, the roots made difficult every movement.

Aure then observed the walls: the etchings told the story of the village, their gods and traditions; then, in a wall more covered with branches than the others, Aure saw another etching: a really tall lady with a crown was pointing her finger towards the village and people ran scared; then some soldiers were capturing with force the children and young women, taking them inside some sort of means of transport; then, in the next panel, the people were kneeling down at the tall lady's feet crying and begging (maybe?) her mercy.

« _Spectrolite_ …»

Later Aure moved her gaze towards the main statue at the centre of the temple; with a closer look, she saw the extreme similarity with Spectrolite; the people of the village tried to "humanized" her: she was sitting on a throne, her hair was longer and loose on her back, her tiara was more like a crown and without the gems stuck in it, her right hand grasped her long javelin (with many details and writings on it) while her left hand leant against the armrest of the throne; at her feet, hidden by her long dress, there were people: they were suffering, crying or trying to escape from her. But the most hypnotizing thing was her face: her gentle features contrasted with her stoic, severe and emotionless expression.

« _She is not like that_ …» 

Suddenly, Aure heard a loud sound from outside; then she heard voices, **familiar** voices. Aure rushed behind the statue, using some branches as hiding place.

After a while, heavy steps approached the temple. Then the voices spoke again: « _You stay outside…leave me alone in here._ »

« _As you wish_.» replied the second voice.

"Meragda and her pearl!" Aure thought recognising their presence. She heard Meragda coming closer to the statue and then a thud.

« _My Spectrolite…with today, 4500 years had passed since your…disappearance. Since then, me and Pyrope tried to preserve your legacy…but nothing is the same without you. 4500 years of void…and loneliness. 4500 years of despair and torture… **it should have been me**! That day, at the Strawberry fields, when you disappeared, a part of me disappeared as well. I should have disappeared instead of you! It should have been me_…» her tone became more and more low; at the end it became a whisper.

Aure was hearing in silence Meragda's surge, she seemed desperate. Aure felt bad for her: she must have cared a lot about Spectrolite.

« _But now I'm not lonely anymore…because I found a strange human being…with this…your javelin._ » Aure heard that Meragda touched the statue, then she continued. _«Your unique and peculiar javelin…it had the same shade of green as your eyes, you know?_ » Meragda chuckled softly. « _I promise I will find her…and when it will happen, that means I have found you too_.»


	14. ★14

« _But now I'm not lonely anymore…because I found a strange human being…with this…your javelin. Your unique and peculiar javelin…it had the same shade of green as your eyes, you know?_ » Meragda laughed softly. « _I promise I will find her…and when it will happen, that means I have found you too_.»

Aure stayed hidden for a while even when Meragda left. When she was sure to be alone she left her hiding place behind the statue; in that moment Ruby and Blueberry joined her.

« _My Aure, are you alright?! We saw Meragda coming this way but her pearl kept watching the entrance_ …»

« _Yeah I'm fine, she actually came here and talked to the statue_.»

Blueberry was confused. « _Meragda talked…to a statue?_ »

Aure nodded and so did Ruby. « _Don’t you see it? This statue looks like her_.» pointed out Ruby. Blueberry looked up at the statue and gasped. Ruby was right…even if the villagers tried to "humanise" her.

« _I suggest to leave this place…if Meragda, for some reason, should come back I don’t want her to find us._ » spoke again Blueberry.

« _You don’t have to worry about Major General Emerald_ ∼» an unknown voice spoke from behind them. The three turned and saw a pearl: pink skin, had some freckles on her cheeks, bright curly pink hair with a lock that covered her left eye; she wore a black dress with poufy shoulder pads with a deep dark violet corset and transparent skirt. She had the most emotionless and cold stare Aure ever saw. Blueberry went in front of Ruby and Aure as to protect them.

« _Gliese_ …»

« _So Major General Emerald was right…she truly saw you_.» the pinkish pearl said with a monotone voice.

« _This means Pyrope is with you_ …» Blueberry and this pearl, Gliese, seemed to know each other. Despite this, Blueberry was not scared or afraid of her.

« _Yes, she is in the village…we followed Major General Emerald from the Mothership._ » Gliese was truly an elegant and sophisticated pearl: monotone but warm voice, right posture and graceful presence. Because of her flat voice it was hard to understand her feelings.

« _Why are you here, Gliese?_ »

« _Officially or not?_ » she smiled a bit.

« _Both_ …»

« _Officially, to capture and eventually execute you. Unofficially, to keep an eye on Major General Emerald_.» she said calmly.

« _Keep an eye…on Meragda? Why?_ »

« _That's how you call her? Meragda?_ » Gliese laughed a bit. « _Anyways, My Pyrope suspects she is trying to protect you somehow_.»

« _What?! Such a nonsense! She tried to kill me more than once!_ »

« _Yes but after 4500 years she, an important and praised Gem, was not able to capture you? It's a bit too much, don’t you think?_ » Gliese had one of her fake smiles. Blueberry thought about it: it was actually strange that after all this time Blueberry was still free. Homeworld Gems were famous to carry out orders in a short time.

« _Why are you helping me?_ »

« _Helping you? I'm not_ ∼» replied Gliese.

« _Pearl! Did you find something up there?_ » the group heard another voice from outside the temple. They looked over Gliese hoping she would lie to her owner.

« _Only an abnormal statue, my Pyrope…nothing important._ » the pinkish pearl replied to Pyrope. She kept smiling to them and tuned as if she was going to leave.

When Gliese was about to leave the temple she felt something around her arm; she turned a bit and saw Aure, the human.

« _What do you want, human?_ »

« **Thank you**.» Gliese's eye became narrow and her pink skin tone of her face turned paler. She had a horrified face and she could not look away from Aure: her dark eyes were looking straight in Aure's blue-green ones.

« _Pearl, come on! We are coming back!_ » uttered Pyrope from the village below them. Aure let go her grasp on Gliese's arm then she shook her head as if she wanted to drive away something.

The pearl left the temple with the same shocked face as before and after a while the group heard the spaceship flew away in the sky.

**★★★**

The Indian islands were far away from them. It's been a month since Lace left after that argument with Aure and she was counting the days. Aure sighed and looked up at the clear sky.

♦️ **NEXT LOCATION: NEW AUSTRALIA**

« _This place is really hot, be careful my Aure_.»

« _So desolating_ …» pointed out Ruby. She seemed to enjoy that climate.

« _Australia and New Australia have both a scorching climate, so it's normal here_.»

Australia (and New Australia) were the only countries in the world that covered an entire continent. They were one of the largest countries on Earth. Although it was rich in natural resources and had a lot of fertile land, more than one-third of Australia was desert. Australia's ecosystem was an unusual one because of its remote location. As a result, there were many animal species that occur here and nowhere else in the world.

The three gems were walking under the sun for a while now and it started to become hot. They met many farmers who offered them water and something to eat; they even met few gems like Amethysts, Jaspers or Carnelians and this made even more difficult for Aure not to think about Lace.

Around sunset, the group found a nice place to stay (according to Blueberry): a space between two high dunes.

Gradually, the sky became deep orange, then blue and later black with many stars; Ruby was already asleep next to Aure while Blueberry was dreaming and her pearl showed the hologram of her dream (Aure took note that it was the first time she saw Blueberry sleeping). However, Aure could not sleep: something in that place was wrong.

She got up slowly not to wake up the two gems and put on her backpack; she then took a walk around the dunes. She climbed the first dune but she saw nothing; then she climbed the second one: this was much more "flat" as if there was a floor under the sand. Finally, she arrived at the top of the dune and looked down: she was forced to contain a loud gasp when she saw **someone**.

« _Incredible…when will this sand vanish? I'm tired of cleaning_ …»

« _Remember the orders_ …»

Aure saw two gems, two Amethysts to be precise: the first one had a light pink skin tone, fuchsia uniform and lilac fluffy hair (with a fringe that covered most of her face); the second one had a light purple skin, the same fuchsia uniform as the first gem and almost white hair.

They were cleaning…the sand? Why are they moving it away? Aure kept watching them from the top of the dune, half hidden in the sand; the two Amethysts finished their work (even if the sand was still there) and both sighed.

« _We have to cover the entrance_ …»

« _Yeah let's go take the cloth_.» and both of them walked away. Aure took advantage of this and climbed down the dune to watch what the Amethysts were protecting (and cleaning).

Aure had to contain another gasp when she was a huge, massive and old metallic door hidden in the dune. She wanted to call Ruby and Blueberry but Aure heard the Amethysts coming back; so, without thinking, she rushed beyond the door.

In front of her a long and dark hallway; a bit afraid she searched for a torchlight inside her backpack and she sighed in relief when she found it. She quickly turned it on and she kept walking. The place became dirtier and dirtier (and darker) as she went forward: broken glasses, destroyed machines, shattered gems all over the grey floor. Aure arrived at the end of the corridor and saw a big structure ahead: grey walls, grey floor and white ceiling (even if the colour faded and some wires dangled); she saw a lot of rooms but most of them had the door closed. Aure found only one open door and went inside.

Aure felt sick, a disgusting smell filled her nose: she saw a lot of jars both tiny and large with human babies, complete skeletons and other monstrosities. She did a strangled yell and ran away from that room; she ran for a while without caring about the directions.

Eventually she stopped to catch her breath and looked at her surroundings: this part of the building was a little "cleaner", with old toys and crayons on the ground. Aure was curious and entered a random door: it was empty except for a bed and a desk but the room had no decorations or windows; it was almost aseptic. Aure left that room and went straight towards the next one: this aseptic room was closed so she could not inside. She proceeded in that hallway and at the end of it she found a particular room with the door open: the "furniture" was the same as the first room but here there were broken machines on the floor; Aure sensed something in that room so she went inside: the bed was old and the mattress was mouldy, the wooden desk was filled with childish drawings.

Suddenly a flash appeared in Aure's mind and she remembered all her dreams: the one on the bed and the dream about Cordelia's wish to have Spectrolite. They were all set there, in that place…in **that laboratory**.

Aure moved backward a bit for the shock, her torchlight fell on the ground and it turned off. The place returned surrounded by darkness; Aure's breath was heavy because of the fear and she could hear the two Amethysts' small talk as they came closer. Aure took the flashlight then started to run, her legs knew exactly where to go; she turned many corners and entered in a random room, dark as the rest of the building.

Aure saw the Amethyst ran beyond her door and she sighed in relief. It was completely dark in that room so she tried to make the torchlight work again; after few bumps, it turned on again and she could see her surroundings: the room was filled with computers and other machines, everything broken and abandoned.

The torchlight's ray illuminated a strange silver object on a desk; Aure came closer to the desk and recognised the object: it was a crown with hole at the centre with the same shape of her gem. Suddenly, she had another flash. 

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

Spectrolite saw from afar a gem in trouble: it was Emerald, her right-hand man. She was fighting against two large Amethysts. Spectrolite intervened and poofed the two Amethysts.

« _Emerald! What are you doing?!_ » Spectrolite shouted at her, Emerald lowered the head in submission. « _You have to fight! Without esitation!_ » Spectrolite was angry.

« _Yes, Resplendent Spectrolite._.»

« _Emery, dear…»_ Spectrolite cupped her face with the hands. « _This war isn’t ours…we don’t need to shatter anyone_.»

« _These Gems…Lapis Lazulis against Lapis Lazulis…Amethysts against Amethysts and so on. Don’t you think it's too much, Spectrolite?_ »

« _It is, Emery. But we have orders, remember?_ » Meragda raised her head, Spectrolite was still talking quietly at her; with the corner of her eye, she saw someone behind Spectrolite: she lifted her weapon and hit the gem who was attacking Spectrolite. It followed a loud poof and a gentle clink.

Meragda's face was only centimetres apart from Spectrolite's; if Meragda would have pupils, in that moment they would be fully dilated. She lowered her weapon and regained control of her senses.

« _I'm sorry, my Spectrolite_ …»

« _Emery…you saved my life, don’t be sorry_.»

Suddenly the scene changed, the landscape was different: there were skyscrapers, houses and cars. Near a big building, a man with a white coat stood next to the entrance.

« _Dr._ _Kastner, here's the archaeological find you requested. It is truly a beautiful crown_.» a man with another white coat talked to him.

« _Actually it is. My daughter Cordelia will love the gem stuck in it_.»

« _Do you have a daughter? How is she?_ »

« _She is energetic and caring…a cute little girl who loves to bother me during my work_.» Dr. Kastner was ironic about the last part of his sentence. « _Now please excuse me, I have to go to the airport…the flight for New Australia will leave soon_.»

« _Of course Dr. Kastner_.»

The scene changed again, this time drastically: black floor, black ceiling, black walls. This time Aure saw two figures: she recognised Spectrolite from her height and tight black corset; next to her there was Cordelia: without machines around her, she had a casual outfit (a white shirt with pants). Aure could see her for the first time, feeling confused when she saw that Cordelia was actually **her** but younger (short wavy brown hair but with black eyes).

The three of them were put in order to form a triangle where Aure was the furthest vertex.

« **So your father is the cause of all this** …» Spectrolite was strangely calm, maybe because she already figured out this conclusion.

« _It seemed_ …» Cordelia was calm too. Probably she and Spectrolite talked a lot during Aure's travel.

« _Yes but something is still missing! Who poofed Spectrolite? Why Blueberry is accused of it? And why Meragda and your other pilot wants to find me? But most importantly…who am I?_ » Aure, on the other hand, was the most desperate of the three.

« **You have to come back to my court…running away from the problem will not help to solve it** »

« _I have to give a point to her…but it will be dangerous, her court is not the safest place in the galaxy right now_ »

« **And about your last question…only you know the answer** »


	15. ★15

« _Yes but something is still missing! Who poofed Spectrolite? Why is Blueberry accused of it? And why Meragda and your other pilot wants to find me? But most importantly…who am I?_ » Aure, on the other hand, was the most desperate of the three.

« **You have to come back to my court…running away from the problem will not help to solve it** »

« _I have to give a point to her…but it will be dangerous, her court is not the safest place in the galaxy right now_ »

« **And about your last question…only you know the answer**.»

« _How could I know the answer?! It's from the beginning of this story that I don't know anything! I don’t know my name, my family or my past! How can you be so calm in a situation like this?!_ » Aure yelled at them; Cordelia didn’t move an inch while Spectrolite was backed off for the surprise.

« _We believed you already knew your name_ …» Cordelia looked at Aure with conceit.

«… **isn’t it Aure?** »

« _I DON’T KNOW! I BELIEVED THAT THROUGH YOUR MEMORIES I COULD REMEMBER SOMETHING…AT LEAST MY NAME! But every time I could not see my body or face completely…NOW I KNOW THAT I WAS NOT IN NONE OF THEM!_ »

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

Meanwhile "outside" the two Amethysts eventually found Aure in a dark room; both of them had their weapons out (a whip and a big hammer).

« _Hey stop right there_ -» the first Amethyst said but she stopped her sentence. The two Amethysts exchange a worried and scared look. In front of them they saw a human figure enveloped by a bright light, the same light that wrapped a fusion. 

« **Who's there?!** »

« _Enough! Could you just shut up?!_ »

« **Do not interrupt me, human!** »

The two Amethysts saw the figure struggling with something: she was hugging herself, her hands grasped hard at the shirt and her legs were shaking. The Amethysts were confused and didn’t know what to do; the girl in front of them was talking with two voices and her face deformed in many different expressions.

« _Go away from my head!_ »

« **It's all you fault!** »

« _Let them stop!_ »

The Amethysts moved backwards a bit, truly scared. Suddenly a bright light came out blinding everybody followed by an acute scream. Then the Amethysts saw the body fell on the ground lifeless.

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

Aure felt tickle on her face as if something small was touching her. She woke up slowly finding out the tickle was caused by the sand. She could feel a sharp pain on her lower back and moving her legs was painful.

« _Is she functional now?_ » 

« _I don’t know…it's being a while since she turned off_ …»

Aure heard two unknown voices talking to each other not far from her; maybe they were the two Amethysts. Aure groaned and opened her eyes; they were actually the two gem guards with their fuchsia uniforms.

« _Hey she is up!_ » the gem with her face covered by the fringe said to the other one.

« _Should we tell her friends she turned on?_ »

« _I'll go, you keep an eye on her_.» the gem with the fringe said and disappeared inside the laboratory again.

Aure recognised the lab's giant entrance, well-hidden between the dunes. She wanted to wriggle away from that place but her legs hurt a lot; she felt helpless.

« _Hey calm down, human…your friends are coming for you_.»

After few minutes Blueberry and Ruby came out from the giant door with the most terrified face Aure ever saw. They rushed to her, hugging her tightly. Aure started to cry.

« _My Aure, what happened? We heard a loud scream and these two gems found you…in that building_.»

Aure grabbed on to Blueberry's clothes. « _Blueberry please tell me…what's that place?_ »

The pearl looked at her with terror and sighed. « _Probably you already noticed but it's a laboratory. Dr.Kastner's laboratory to be precise_.» Blueberry lowered her head but continued. « _Do you remember when I told you I saved you from a group of Amethysts when we first met?_ »

Aure nodded.

« _I saved you from them indeed but…you were trapped in this laboratory. I released you from that place_.»

Aure looked away shocked, in her head thousands and thousands of questions span fast one by one. « _So…I am Cordelia Kastner for real…isn’t it Blueberry?! I am Cordelia?!_ » Aure was desperate…desperate to know more.

« _Yes and no, my Aure_ …» Blueberry looked up at her with hurt in her eyes, she could not tell anything.

« **What do you mean "yes and no"?! Could you give a proper answer for once?!** »

« _Blueberry is trying to say that most probably Cordelia is your old self…now you have a Gem in your body. You created something entirely new_ …» Ruby tried to explain with her calm and cute voice, her face showed sadness.

Aure looked away again and tried to stood up. Blueberry wanted to help her but Aure pushed her away. « _I don’t need your help_.» Aure was standing up, her legs hurt less than before thus she could walk on her own. Blueberry tried to catch her but Aure was too far; the pearl fell on her knees in the sand, shaking a bit. Ruby stood next to her the entire time, one hand on Blueberry's shoulder.

Ruby looked at the two Amethysts, who are looking at them with confusion; Ruby then had an idea: she came closer to the two tall fuchsia gems, she started to talk to them. The two Amethysts smiled at the little Ruby and nodded: the gem without the fringe on her forehead took Ruby in the laboratory again while the other Quartz stood outside, with Blueberry.

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

Aure was sitting on a top of a dune looking at an oasis not far from her. It was still night but Aure didn’t know the time; the moon was high and bright that night, her silver rays reflected inside the tiny lake surrounded by palm trees.

She was thinking about Cordelia and Spectrolite: the girl felt betrayed by her own father, he used her as test subject; on the other hand, Spectrolite was poofed for an (apparently) unknown reason. Aure knew she was not none of them, but at the same time she was. The two "personalities" were still fighting to take control of her but Aure knew how to keep them at bay.

The thoughts were still spinning in her head when she heard the sound of the sand being moved: someone was coming close. Aure didn’t mind to look at who it was, maybe it was one of the Amethysts or Blueberry or Ruby.

« _Is there a place for me?_ » Aure snapped out of realty, she recognised that voice immediately. She turned and she saw **her** : Lace.

« _L-L-Lace_ …»

« _A cute red angel told me someone is in trouble_.» Lace smiled at her.

Aure stood up quickly almost falling down the dune; ignoring the pain on her back, she ran towards Lace and hugged her chest tightly. Aure started to cry non-stop against her black one-piece bathing suit. Initially Lace was speechless and surprised, she didn’t imagine something like that. She felt bad for Aure not only for what Ruby told her before…she said Aure cried almost every day after Lace's disappearance.

Lace hugged her and picked her up so Aure was crying on her shoulder and not on her chest. Aure used Lace's hair to hide herself.

« _I was awful back there…I was jealous of you and Ruby…and Blueberry too. You fused with them so easily, I thought you were avoiding me because…I was corrupted once and the fusion could corrupt your gem_.» she paused. « _I'm not proud of what I said, I knew I hurt you…when I used the warp pad I came back to Little Homeworld but I wanted to come back right after that. I felt so…empty… and the grief was consuming me but I didn’t know how to come back, where were you_.»

Aure looked at her profile, Lace was talking while looking straight in front of her. She was so serious and stiff as if she was holding back something.

« _Ruby told me what happened. I'm telling ya what you are, girl._ » her dark purple hair covered most of her face.

« _Uh?_ »

« _You are one of the strongest half-gem I even met! You have the wonderful power to reassure everyone, you protect from negative thoughts and feelings, you make both humans and Gems better…you help people reaching the source of their problem and control their fears. That's who you are! The other two voices you hear in your head are scrap compared to you…they want to control you because they know you are better than them_.» 

Aure saw Lace shaking a bit; then Aure saw tears pouring her face. So that's what she was holding back: her tears.

« _Lace_ …» Aure hugged her tighter than before and so did Lace. Eventually Lace decided to sit down on the sand with Aure in her lap still hugging.

« _Thank you…for coming back and…for everything else_.»

« _I have to thank you, girl…I would never imagine an adventure like this. As Ruby told me…we are soldiers, we will win_.»

Aure smiled. That was what she said to Ruby when she was in the dumps during the shooting in Kansas. Lace and Aure kept hugging for a while before they heard a loud grumble.

« _Ops! Hehe I'm a bit hungry_.» said Aure.

« _Damn girl, me too_ …»

Aure laughed and stood up helped by Lace and together came back to the entrance of the laboratory. Despite this, Aure felt uncomfortable in that place. However, she saw Ruby and Blueberry sat next to the fire and the two Amethysts (still confused) not far from them.

Ruby raised her head and smiled; Aure gestured her to stay a silent then she pointed at Blueberry. Aure came closer to the pearl as quietly as possible, then she sat right behind Blueberry and hugged her from behind. Obviously the pearl got scared and gasped; when she recognised Aure a few centimetres away from her face she blushed hard.

« _Marshmallow anyone?_ » asked Ruby.

« _What's a marsh-thing?_ » asked the Amethyst with the fringe.

« _It's a sweet, try it._ »

« _Hmmm_ …» the Amethysts (and Lace too) joined the rest of the group near the fire.


	16. ★16

« _Spectrolite said the answers are at her court. However, Cordelia replied that right now her court is not the safest place in the galaxy_.»

« _At least we confirmed that your gem is truly a spectrolite and not a common labradorite_.» pointed out Lace.

« _Not a simple spectrolite, Lace. That gem is one of a kind, we did not register other labradorites or spectrolites in this part of the galaxy_.»

♦️ **CURRENT LOCATION: GALAXY WARP**

The Galaxy Warp was the former central hub on Earth for interstellar transport through the galaxy used by Gems. It was located atop a large plateau, surrounded by the Tunguska Sea, a large sea in Siberia. Teal, crystalline platforms which resemble the top half of a brilliant-cut diamond: many of them made up the Galaxy Warp, each of them could teleport anywhere in the galaxy.

« _So what's the plan? None of these warp pads could lead us inside Spectrolite's Mothership_.»

« _You're right, Lace. But we can go to Iurilia_.» said Blueberry.

« _Iurilia? Is that a planet?_ » asked Ruby.

« _It's a moon…a dead moon that orbits around Olliecury_.»

« _Wait! I know that name!_ » uttered Lace.

« _Olliecury, with Iurilia and Uastea as moons, is Spectrolite's colony_.» everyone gasped.

« _Why is there a warp pad for…Iurilia? Did I say it right?_ » asked Aure.

Blueberry nodded. « _Because it was used as planet for the Kindergarten_. _And also because it was a base for the activities of the colony_ » she explained and after a pause she continued. « _Iurilia has no more life, only different abandoned Kindergartens…and hangars_ ∼» Blueberry smirked in the last part.

« _Hangars? For spaceships?_ » asked Lace.

Blueberry nodded again. « _We need to get close to the Mothership. If we use a common spaceship they will suspect us…but if we use their own ships, we will be hidden_ »

« _Are you sure it's a good idea?_ » asked Aure.

« _If your plans are like your directions_ …» pointed out Lace clearly ironic but Blueberry seemed offended.

« _Come on, Lace_.» Aure laughed.

« _I have a question_ …» Ruby raised a hand.

« _What is it, Ruby?_ » Blueberry looked at her.

« _I don’t want to be rude with Aure and her…voices, but what if Spectrolite said that thing to trick us?_ »

« _What do you mean, lil girl?_ »

« _Blueberry is a war criminal and maybe if we go to Spectrolite's Mothership they will mistake us for criminals as well and get shattered_.»

« _They don’t do that anymore. The Diamond's tyranny is over!_ » pointed out Lace.

« _Don’t worry, Ruby! I'll protect you_ ∼» said Aure then hugged her. Ruby smiled and enjoyed the hug.

« _Very well then…"operation infiltration" starts now!_ » Blueberry was a lot excited about this.

★ **MINI TIME SKIP** ★

The plan was simple: using the Galaxy Warp they would teleport to Iurilia; then they would go through the Kindergarten towards the Main Base and at last they would steal one of the spaceships to go to the Mothership.

« _Welcome to Theta Kindergarten_.» whispered Blueberry right after the warp pad turned off.

Gems did not have lungs thus they didn’t need to breath like humans. But Aure? She was half-human and half-gem, she was mostly like Steven: she could breathe on Homeworld and other places where the atmosphere was artificially controlled but not in space. And Spectrolite's colony had a controlled atmosphere, fortunately.

"When a colony was completed with multiple Kindergartens established globally, organic life became extinct on that planet". That was what many said about Kindergartens and it was true; that place had no life anymore: the ground was grey and sandy, no grass, no trees, no animals, no organic life anywhere in sight.

« _Quick, let's hide_.» whispered again Blueberry and everyone climbed down from the warp pad. They had enough time to hide from four Jaspers that passed in front of them and used the warp pad.

They used the rock formations to hide themselves from Jaspers and different Amethysts that were protecting the Kindergarten. After a while they arrived close to the Moon Base: there were three different modules connected with white roads; these three modules had a diamond shape perimeter closed with a hemispheric ceiling; they had the same colour as the landscape: grey.

Meanwhile, every now and then Aure would look behind her because she felt as if someone was following them. But every time she turned she saw anything.

« _Base Suisei-851_ …» murmured Blueberry.

« _Who invented these names? Iurilia, Suisei, Uastea and Olliecury_ …» pointed Lace behind a rock.

« _Someone with a good imagination_ …» replied Aure.

Suddenly one of the hemispheric building opened in half and a couple of spaceships flew away in the galaxy.

« _We have to go there…that's the hangar_.»

Without warning, Aure was thrown on the ground. In a matter of seconds Lace, Blueberry and Ruby summoned their weapons, ready to fight.

« _Oh my Spectrolite! My precious, luminous, splendid Spectrolite! Even if I came out just now, I'm already at your service! Ask me anything_.»

Aure was facing the ground, someone was hugging her from behind, the tiny arms around her waist. She turned and saw a tiny gem: ash-grey skin, prominent lips curved in a large smile, long straight white hair with bangs that cover the top half of her face, she wore a floor-length grey gown, a light grey puffball shirt with four buttons right below her chest and a dark grey skirt with several frilly layers in various white-grey shades (she also wore simple white gloves). Aure could see her grey gem on her cheek.

« _She recognised her immediately_ …» noticed Lace.

« _Who are you?!_ » asked Blueberry sounding a bit fierce. But the unknown gem ignored the pearl, her eyes were fixed on Aure.

« _Ehm…who are you, dear?_ » asked Aure.

« _White Sapphire, Facet 1H9R, Cut 9XA. Here to serve you, my Spectrolite_.»

Aure stood up dusting off the sand from her clothes and looked at the tiny gem in front of her. « _What do you mean "I came out just now"_?»

« _I came out from my hole in the Kindergarten right now, my Spectrolite_.»

« _Like a newborn?_ » Aure looked at her friends for an answer.

« _Yeah girl, like a human newborn…ehm…more or less_.»

« _I predict that a group of Quartzes and an Agate are coming this way: we need to hide if we don’t want to be caught.._.» spoke the Sapphire. Quickly, the group found a hiding place behind a giant rock; Aure grabbed White Sapphire's wrist at the last second and hid her with them too.

« _Did you hear something?_ » a heavy and powerful voice rumbled.

« _No, my Agate_.» many different voices replied simultaneously.

« _We need to check anyway: you two, go to inspect that sector, the others will follow me_.»

« _Yes, my Agate_.» the group seemed to split up because Aure heard a pair of steps moved away and another set of steps coming close to where Aure and her friends were hidden.

« _In my future vision, there is a possibility that the Agate will catch us and eventually we will be imprisoned_ » whispered White Sapphire.

« _We need a diversion_ …» said Aure.

« _My Spectrolite, If I may…I think I have an idea_.»

« _You don’t need my permission, White Sapphire_.» Aure smiled. Later she should tell her the whole story.

Then White Sapphire made a strange movement with her tiny hands and a crystal clear sphere appeared magically; then she threw it in the air far from them, blowing up in a rain made of crystals.

« _Did you see it, my Agate?_ »

« _I thought this Kindergarten was empty! Let's go check it_.» the Agate and the Quartzes ran away. Aure sighed in relief.

« _My Aure, let's hurry to the hangar_.»

Aure, Lace, Ruby, Blueberry and the White Sapphire (a bit confused in that moment) used the rock formations to get closer to the hangar. It had two different entrances: the main entry was connected to the Suisei base; the second entry was a sort of service entrance used only by soldiers or technicians.

« _It's locked by a security system…it needs a Gem Identification_.» whispered Blueberry while controlling the device.

« _Which means?_ » asked Lace.

« _Only specific Gems have access to this door: Peridots, Quartzes, Garnets and so on_.»

« _I'm a Quartz, ya know_ …»

« _You were made on Earth, Lace. Spectrolite didn’t use Quartzes from Pink Diamond's colony._ »

« _I could try, my Spectrolite_ ∼» White Sapphire stood in silence for the whole time, watching the others arguing about that.

« _To open the door? Well, give it a try_.»

« _Thank you_.» White Sapphire bowed at her and came closer to the device. Helped by Lace, White Sapphire touched the pad with her hand; the device showed some Gem Glyph through holograms then it spoke loudly: « _Gem type: White Sapphire. Identification parameters: Facet 1H9R, Cut 9XA. Status: Active. Access granted_.». Then the device turned off and the door opened automatically.

The group went quickly inside and hid behind a deposit watching their surroundings: clear grey floor (it was so clean they could see their reflection on it), a series of large, massive, metallic pillars supported the entire structure and between those pillars were parked many spaceships (diamond shaped space crafts with the two upper sides longer than the others with a large variety of iridescent colours: grey, grey-white, brown, greenish, pale green, blue and yellow). But the most breath-taking thing was the ceiling: from the outside you could not see anything of the interior, from the inside the ceiling was completely transparent. Stars, planets and other solar systems were visible from that place. Aure noticed how only the ceiling had this particular characteristic, the rest of the structure had solid metallic walls.

« _Nice work back there, White Sapphire_.» said Aure still focused on the ceiling.

« _Anything for you, my Spectrolite_.» she replied with a slight blush on her ash-grey cheeks. Everyone was feeling a lot awkward after White Sapphire's answer, looking at each other with embarrassment.

« _My Aure, we have to act fast…some Peridots or Agates could get suspicious about White Sapphire's log in the system_.»

« _You're right, Blueberry. Let's hur_ -» they were going to come out from their hiding place when a group of three Peridots appeared from a door.

"Their hair are so…symmetrical∼" Aure thought while looking at them with stars in her eyes.

« _Damn, Peridots_ …» cursed Blueberry. One of the Peridots was much taller than the other two: high limb enhancers, long dark green cape and square yellow hair.

« _It's from here?_ »

« _Yes, from the service entrance of the hangar_.»

« _The Kindergarten is empty, all the Sapphires are in the Mothership…why did the system register a log from a White Sapphire?_ »

« _No malfunctions, no bugs, no hacking. The security system works perfectly_.»

The three Peridots were talking between each other, using holographic screens to verify their information. Then Aure noticed strange spherical green objects at the feet of the Peridots.

« _What are those?_ » she whispered.

« _Flask Robonoids. They repair things using a special liquid inside them_.» replied Blueberry. « _As technicians and Kindergarteners, many Peridots had them to repair objects like warp pads_.»

Suddenly an alarm rang inside the hangar; the main door opened and a huge Dropship was going to land inside the hangar. The three Peridots stood in their seats waiting for the ships to land.

« _That's it…our diversion_.» said Aure.


	17. ★17

Suddenly an alarm rang inside the hangar; the main door opened and a huge Dropship was going to land inside the hangar. The three Peridots stood in their seats waiting for the ships to land.

« _That's it…our diversion_.» whispered Aure.

It was a large yellow circular spaceship with three extendable landing legs; initially these Dropship were used to colonise the planets but in Era 3 they were employed as freighters. The ship landed in the hangar and a Nephrite came out. 

« _Who's that?_ » whispered Aure.

« _She's a Nephrite, they were in charge of piloting and commanding ships before Era 3_.» replied Blueberry.

The Nephrite started to talk with the three Peridots while behind them a group of Quartzes unloaded something from the Dropship. That's the moment: Aure, Lace, Blueberry, Ruby and White Sapphire used the massive pillars to hide themselves in order to get closer to one of the iridescent spaceships.

« _Wouldn’t they be suspicious about a single spaceship leaving the hangar?_ » asked Ruby.

« _Here spaceships leave every day in every moment_ » replied Blueberry.

« _Why is Olliecury not visible from here?_ »

« _Because Iurilia spins slowly on its axis…only after 65 Earth days this moon faces Olliecury_.»

The group finally reached one of the spaceships, the yellowish one, and climbed up quickly. Ruby and Blueberry sat at the control panel: they rapidly clicked some buttons and the spaceship started to float mid-air; after few more manoeuvres, the spaceship came out of the hangar.

They moved away from Iurilia and Aure was glued to the windows: in front of her a giant blue-green planet with a massive ring system; she could see the clouds moving in its atmosphere and what seemed to be water; near the northern pole Aure could see a giant crater surrounded by grey rocks.

« _Is that…a Kindergarten?_ » 

Ruby shook her head. « _No, it's a natural formation. No Kindergartens at Olliecury_.»

« _If there are no Kindergartens, what is the purpose of this colony?_ » asked Aure.

« _For Spectrolite's own pleasure. She loved the beauty of each planet in the universe and when Yellow Diamond gave her this planet, she was more than happy. She protected every species and plants of Olliecury, transforming Iurilia in a Gem colony instead_ » started Blueberry and looked at the planet below them with a faint smile as if she was remembering something.

Then Aure changed window to see something else and gasped: they were right next to the Mothership. Aure took a look at it: sloped to the right, this spherical space shuttle had a bright stripe that encircled it like an equator; the external wall had an opaque dark blueish colour and from the outside it looked like a normal planetoid. Aure felt so tiny and insignificant while looking at it.

Lace, sensing Aure's distress, put a hand over her shoulder. « _Don’t worry girl, everything will be fine_.» 

Aure turned at her and smiled. « _Yes, you're right_.»

« _I can see many futures where this operation will be a success_.» pointed out White Sapphire. Aure noticed how she was standing next to Ruby, looking at her with curiosity. Ruby was trying to stay focused on her part of the control panel but every now and then she would gaze at White Sapphire as well.

« _Aren't they cute?_ » whispered Lace.

« _A lot._ » Aure replied with a quiet laugh.

**★★★**

« _We landed…and now?_ » asked Lace a bit worried.

« _Let's consign them_.» Ruby pointed at some heavy metallic boxes. Aure raised an eyebrow and went to check the boxes; she removed the lid and looked inside: white, yellow and blue vessels organised in alternating sequences.

« _Bottles?_ »

« _No, the Diamonds use those vessels to store their aura for the medicine_.» replied Ruby. « _I saw Steven with them many times_.»

« _The medicine…for corrupted Gems?_ »

Lace nodded. « _Well, let's consign them then!_ »

« _Yes, but before that_ …» said Blueberry.

★ **MINI TIME SKIP** ★

« _Wait!_ » someone behind them uttered with stoic voice. The group froze in their place.

« _What are you carrying?_ » spoke a very short gem (she made up for it with her ability to fly with steam wings); she had dark red skin, deep red hair divided into two separate locks, a large red scarf that covered her mouth and her shiny gem on her left calf.

« _The Diamonds' vessels for the usual check_.» replied White Sapphire.

« _A White Sapphire! Hmm_ …» the red Gem seemed deep in thought while observing the Gems arrived five minutes ago: a large Amethyst carried this metallic box followed by a White Sapphire with her Ruby and a Lapis. « _Did I see you somewhere?_ »

« _I sense your doubts, Beryl, but I assure you this is our first time here_.»

« _Well, if a Sapphire says so_ …» the red Gem, a Beryl, shrugged her shoulders. « _Sector 95f is where you should go with those vessels. Use the elevator down there._ »

« _Thank you, Beryl_.» White Sapphire lowered her head as a salute and went towards the elevator. The four of them occupied the entire elevator and the door closed right after. Blueberry, who shapeshifted into a Lapis Lazuli, sighed in relief but her face was still worried.

« _We must be more careful_ …» she whispered. Ruby and Lace nodded quietly. « _Are you alright, my Aure?_ » A couple of bumps were heard from inside the metallic box.

« _She is…hold on a little bit, girl_.»

They were almost there, at sector 95f, but suddenly White Sapphire changed floor and they went beyond it.

« _What? Why?_ »

« _With my future vision I saw two Agates at floor 95 waiting for the elevator; they would recognise us if we stopped there_.» said White Sapphire.

« _I love that future vision thing_.» laughed Lace.

Eventually they arrived at floor 103; Blueberry checked the hallway in front of them and when she was sure they were alone, she removed the boxes' lid.

« _You may come out, my Aure_.» Blueberry took off a false bottom and Aure popped out from the box. Aure looked at her surrounding with amazement: the chequered floor was painted with all the shades of green; the two walls at the sides of the hallway had sinuous pillars with geometrical etchings; between these pillars many arched windows that reached the ceiling and faced Olliecury; the ceiling had the same chequered pattern of the floor but painted with all the shades of blue.

« _This is…amazing_ …» whispered Aure.

After that moment of astonishment, they quickly moved away from the elevator. Every hallway had a different shade of green, blue, yellow, grey-white and brown. Except for groups of Quartzes or Topazes, the hallways were mostly empty.

« _If Spectrolite was right, we need to go into her Hot Springs_.» said Blueberry in her Lapis Lazuli attire.

« _Hot Springs? Of all things, a thermal bath?_ » asked Lace.

« _Yes, her private room. Nobody except Spectrolite and her pearl had the permission to enter that room_.»

« _So, how are we supposed to go there?_ » pointed out (properly) Lace.

« _Someone's approaching_ …» interrupted White Sapphire but the group hadn’t the time to react that a Gem shouted at them.

« _Hey you! What are you doing here? It's a restricted area!_ » they all turned and saw an imposing Gem in front of them: a 8' (2.5m) gem with lemon-green skin, fluffy short green hair, a single yellow eye and a military uniform (all white except two puffy yellow shoulder pads and over-the-knee green boots with her gem stuck in her right knee).

« _Who are you supposed to be?_ » asked the Gem.

« _White Sapphire and Lapis Lazuli_.» the tiny Sapphire replied and lowered her head. « _It's our first time in this marvellous spaceship and we lost our path_ »

The green Gem was looking at them with a suspicious look. « _And you? Are you from Pink Diamond's human zoo?_ » she asked while observing Aure.

« _Yes, she is my servant_.» replied White Sapphire. « _Nothing special but she does her work_ »

The green gem laughed in delight but soon she regained consciousness. « _Anyway, this is still a restricted area. I must ask you to go away_ »

« _Very well. Please, accept my apologies…ehm?_ »

« _Demantoid, Captain Demantoid, my Sapphire_ »

« _There's no need for these formalities, Captain_ …»

« _Of course, I'm sorry…I'm not used to Era 3 actually_ »

"What is this change of behaviour?" Aure thought. She looked at Demantoid: despite her striking physical aspect, Demantoid never looked straight in the eyes of her interlocutor, she always avoided the other's gaze.

The group quickly went towards the elevator and pressed a random bottom.

« _Why Demantoid changed her attitude so suddenly?_ »

Blueberry sighed. « _Because she is an Era 2 Gem and she lived under the strict rule of the Diamond Authority for ages. Now that it doesn’t exist anymore, for Gems like her it's difficult to understand that she is as important and precious as a Diamond_.»

« _Moreover, for the ex-caste system Sapphires and Lapis Lazuli were high-ranking gems so Demantoids felt as if she must obey at anything_ …» added Lace.

The wait inside the elevator was a bit longer than before and the tension was clear between them. They were still going up when behind them the large window of the elevator faced the main throne room; they noticed this and turned.

« _Meragda!_ » uttered Aure, recognising the Emerald.

«… _and Pyrope_ …» said Blueberry. « _Damn, they are both here_ …»

They had a perfect view of the throne room: it was a giant room where the only furniture were the three thrones; the room had a relaxing lilac colour (with all its light shades) and alongside its perimeter there were many doors; Aure could see the transparent tubes of other elevators that went up and down again and again. Pyrope and Meragda were focused on their holographic screens (and so their pearls) and they didn’t care much about their surroundings.

Aure took a good look at the two Gems sat in the thrones: the chairs were similar to the Diamond's thrones but much smaller; Pyrope had a pink-red chair decorated with geometrical etchings, golden strands and the seatback was shaped like flames with its bright red colour that blended in a pinker shade at the bottom of the throne. The Era 3 Diamond Symbol was engraved on the armrest.

Aure was going to look at Meragda but her sight was blocked by the wall: the panoramic view was over. She sighed a bit disappointed but then she turned towards the elevator's door.

« _To bring Lace's question up again…if Spectrolite's Hot Springs were a restricted area, how can we go there?_ » asked Aure.

« _Well, you **are** half-Spectrolite right now girl…you **can** go there actually_.» pointed out Lace.

« _Lace, you forget that every log is registered in the Gem Identification System. Don’t you think that if a Peridot sees something like "Spectrolite entered the Hot Springs chamber" would become suspicious?_ » replied Blueberry.

Aure was strangely quiet during their conversation, she had a lot in her head; what if this "operation" fails? What if they got caught? And why Blueberry was so well-informed about this spaceship? It was true that she was once a member of this court but she never mentioned her **role**.

« _Then again…how?_ » asked Lace. The elevator's door opened revealing another fascinating hallway.

« _Follow me, I know a shortcut_.» and Blueberry rushed out of the elevator. The other three followed right after. Aure looked at White Sapphire for a second and she saw a frown on her ash-grey face.

"She saw something or had suspects as well" Aure thought.

Lace, Ruby, White Sapphire and Aure kept following Blueberry turning in many other hallways, stairs, elevators and shortcuts. Most of the Gems they encountered didn’t say or do anything; but many others (especially soldiers or Topazes) were pretty persistent and distrustful and Blueberry poofed them all. She trapped their gems in a pale blue bubble and carried them. Aure looked at the others with a worried look but kept following them until…

« _Stop right there! To proceed I need your Gem Identification_.» an Imperial Topaz (with her pink-orange skin and large muscular body, standing taller than Lace) warned them from her place next to a door.


	18. ★18

« _Stop right there! To proceed I need your Gem Identification_ » an Imperial Topaz (with her pink-orange skin and large muscular body, standing taller than Lace) warned them from her place next to a door.

Blueberry, who had a gloomy look in that moment, didn’t waste time to attack the Topaz with her curved saber. But the Topaz was a skilled warrior and she used her long stick to counterattack; Blueberry avoided every attack and tried to poof the Topaz. The pink-orange Gem warded her off but she hit the wall, letting it crack; this moment of distraction was perfect for Blueberry to poof the Topaz. Her round gem clinked on the floor few times; then Blueberry used the gem to open the door before bubbling it.

Aure and the others were getting more and more worried about the pearl's behaviour: this was not her.

« _From this room we could reach the Hot Springs without Gem Identification_.» Blueberry said looking at the Topaz in her bubble. Blueberry was going to enter the next room when a tiny alarm was activated.

"Attention! A malfunction at sector T89. A Peridot is required."

« _Someone's approaching_ …» whispered White Sapphire. Blueberry rushed inside the room followed by Aure, Lace, Ruby and White Sapphire.

« _We'll get caught…in any case_ …» whispered again the light Sapphire. In that moment, in front of them appeared a group of Peridots and Quartzes; they stopped their run.

« _Hey you! What are you doing there?!_ » uttered one of the Peridots. The group changed hallway and continued their run; but again in front of them three Topazes noticed Blueberry and went towards them. Again, Blueberry chose another corridor but, once more, a group of Quartzes blocked their way: now they were surrounded.

« _Finally…I knew something was wrong…A White Sapphire and a Lapis Lazuli doing a check for the Diamond's vessels?_ » the Quartzes stepped aside to let pass another Gem, their leader it seemed. She was an Orange Agate: dark brown long-sleeved one-piece bathing suit with a high collar, an orange cape with a lighter colour inside and a yellow diamond symbol and white high-heeled jackboots.

« _A bit strange, isn’t it?_ » the Orange Agate fixed her ponytail. From her Gem on her throat she summoned her weapon, a burning whip. « _Let's bring them to Ammolite_.»

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

« _All rise for the luminous, gracious and overpowering Ammolite!_ » the Orange Agate and her Quartzes entered the main throne room (the one Aure saw from the elevator few hours ago) with the "prisoners" in custody. Neither Meragda nor Pyrope looked at her, they were focused at their holographic screens.

« _What now Orange Agate?_ » asked an annoyed (and bored) Pyrope without even looking at her. Orange Agate looked a bit down but she regained her posture.

« _We found five intruders_.» Orange Agate said with pride. Suddenly Pyrope's screens disappeared and looked straight at the Agate.

« _Intruders? Here?_ » Pyrope's attention was at the five prisoners. She observed every Gem and when she saw Blueberry she was confused. « _Who are they?_ »

« _They claimed they were here for the usual check to the Diamond's vessels_.»

Meragda turned off her holographic screen too and looked at the Gems below her. Pyrope, from her throne well above Meragda's one, could not see the Emerald's reaction: despite the Lapis Lazuli attire, she recognised Blueberry but most importantly she recognised Aure.

Aure was hidden between Lace and Blueberry's back and was looking straight at Meragda. The Emerald, sensing Aure's gaze on her, sank into her throne in the grip of different emotions. It seemed her pearl had the same reaction too. Pyrope's pearl, on the contrary, didn’t show anything.

« _Really? And someone believed them? I have to talk with those in the hangars_ …» Pyrope said loudly. « _Emerald, do you have something to say?_ »

Meragda stayed silent for a while before speaking: « _We should imprison them until we decide what to do_ …»

« _Strangely, this time I agree with you…Orange Agate, bring them in the cells. **Separately**_ »

« _As you wish, my Pyrope_ » Orange Agate lowered her head and escorted the prisoners away, towards the cells.

**★★★**

Black floor, black ceiling, black walls again: it was **that** room. But this time Aure saw only Spectrolite.

« _Where's…Cordelia?_ »

« **This time it's just you and me, human**.»

« _What did you do to her?!_ » uttered Aure.

« **Calm down, I cannot do anything to her. Remember? I'm not physically alive anymore.** »

Aure sighed and looked at the floor: it was black but truly clear, she could see her reflection. Then she looked at Spectrolite again.

« **Do you like my mothership?** » she asked.

« _Well…I like the colours…and the structure, yes_.»

« **Good, Pyrope and Emery did not ruin it. I put a lot of effort to build it.** »

« _Why are you so kind all of sudden? From what I saw, you were a mere mercenary! You kidnapped people from Earth for a human zoo! They built a statue for you thinking you were a sort of goddess! I bet you destroyed planets, shattered Gems and other terrible things!_ »

« **I know…that's why I'm no longer alive.** »

« _What do you mean?_ »

Spectrolite sulk, looking away. Her face twisted in a strange expression as if she was holding something; she gritted her teeth.

« _I saw your Gem, I used it! You have nothing wrong, nothing negative in you. You are not a simple mercenary who only carried out orders. Your powers can heal people's mind, you stimulate imagination and creativity! You are not a war machine_ …» 

« **That's what the Diamonds expect from all of us! From everyone! That's our reason to live!** »

« _It's not! That time is over now! Homeworld is in peace and the Diamonds have no more oppressive powers!_ »

« **It's not so simple, little human. Without it, why should we live? What's a purpose of a Lapis Lazuli if she could not terraform with her water powers? Or the purpose of a Peridot if there were no more Kindergartens? Every Gem is made for a reason…if you delete that reason, what is left of the gem?** »

The walls started to crack and the ground was shaking, Spectrolite was struggling with her feelings: too many in a short time. The room was unstable.

« _Spectrolite! Calm down!_ »

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

Aure woke up in her cell alone. She fell asleep on her left side and behind her a bright yellow light illuminated the tiny room. After all the previous events, the stress was so high that she fell asleep on the ground almost immediately. She looked at her surroundings: the cell had a polygonal shape blocked by an electric, yellow force field.

Aure stood up, touching slightly her gem on the sacrum. She sighed and went closer to the yellow field trying to look outside her cell: she could only recognise a long hallway and other cells.

She sat down in the furthest corner deep in thought. She was so focused in her thoughts that she didn’t notice two figures standing outside the yellow field. After a while she saw the two shadows she jerked upright.

« _Human, my precious Emerald demands your presence_.» the green pearl spoke next to a Jasper. Aure didn’t have any choice and followed the pearl, the Jasper right behind her. The green pearl, who led the group, heard Aure whispering and murmuring something in a hushed voice.

They finally arrived in front of a giant green door protected by two Orange Topazes. They quickly stepped aside, letting them pass in Meragda's room.

« _My Emerald, the human is here as requested_.» spoke the green pearl.

« _Yes, thank you pearl. You may go…you too Jasper_.» Meragda dismissed them and they were left alone. Aure looked around that beautiful room: it was circular, covered with thin yet high windows separated by thin grey pillars, the ceiling was decorated with round mosaics painted in different shades of green; these round mosaics converged in a spiral that went inside a rose window. She was literally immersed in the space. Everything was not much bigger than Aure, especially the minimal furniture of the room: a green desk with a green armchair, some vases with strange flowers and plants and few weapons shown inside a display case.

None of them dared to speak. Aure could not see Meragda's traumatized face despite the clear windows.

« _Why…only **now** after all this time?_» she spoke quietly as if Aure was not there. « _Why now Spectrolite?_ »


	19. ★19

None of them dared to speak. Aure could not see Meragda's traumatized face despite the clear windows.

« _Why…after all this time?_ » she spoke quietly as if Aure was not there. « _Why now, Spectrolite?_ »

Aure didn’t know how to reply to her. She was not physically Spectrolite but at the same time she had her Gem.

« _But most importantly…why in that weak form?_ » Meragda then turned facing her. Initially, she had a brave, stoic face; but when she looked at Aure's eyes her expression immediately changed into a suffering one. Meragda looked away trying to hold her tears then she stood up from her green chair and went closer to Aure. She was only 10cm taller than Aure.

"Isn't she a bit short to be an Emerald?" Aure thought to herself.

" **She is. It's her little flaw. When Yellow Diamond told to choose an Emerald for my fleet, she showed me towering, impressing Emeralds…she was the tiniest. I chose her immediately**. " Spectrolite talked in Aure's mind.

« _I'm not weak, you know. I fought many corrupted Gems on Earth_.» Aure said with pride. Meragda didn’t say anything, she kept staring at her. Then, suddenly, she fell on her knees so she was a bit shorter than Aure.

The Emerald smiled slightly yet sadly. « _You never changed, Spectrolite. Always praise your own feats_.»

" **She thinks you are a sort of my regeneration**." Spectrolite talked again in Aure's head. Yes, she must be right. Aure could see how many emotions and questions were spinning in Meragda's mind in that moment through her eyes but she didn’t show any of them nor asked anything. She looked so defeated and harmless, a lot different than the Emerald Aure saw in her dreams.

They stood motionless: Aure upright next to the main door and Meragda on her knees in front of her. With slow and gentle movements, the Emerald cupped Aure's face with her hands, caressing her cheeks with the thumb. Aure was astonished and confused: should she push her away or not? The Emerald seemed so desperate for physical contact so if it was just cuddles and caresses it should be fine.

But for Meragda there were not only caresses. She moved closer to Aure's face, tilting her head to one side. Their faces were mere centimetres apart when suddenly Meragda pulled back, removing her hands from Aure's face. She stood up again, now once again taller than the human in front of her; Aure was a blushing mess while the Emerald's face had a cute dark shade of green.

Meragda turned, her back facing Aure. « _Pearl!_ » she called. After that the door of her room opened.

« _Yes, my Emerald?_ »

« _I'm done with this prisoner…take her back to the cells_.»

« _Yes, my Emerald_.»

Before leaving the room, Aure glanced one last time at Meragda: she saw her with a shaking hand on her mouth, her eyes were wet. She wanted to say something but the door was shut immediately.

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

Aure and the green pearl were walking back to the cells. Aure was so focused on what happened with Meragda that didn’t notice the green pearl talking to her.

« _Uh?_ »

The green pearl sighed and turned to look at her. « _I said: I don’t know what you did to my Emerald, but if something bad happens it's your fault_ »

Aure observed the pearl: she was all green except for legs, arms and hair (in a dark shade of green), she had a sort of light green bodysuit with puffy shoulder pads; her gem was located in her navel. She was very protective towards Meragda.

« _I did nothing to her_ …»

« _It better be_ …» the green pearl crossed her arms. She was a lot like her owner: she blushed easily and had an apparent severe attitude but deep down she was cute and gentle.

« _My Emerald suffered and is still suffering about Resplendent Spectrolite's disappearance. Your presence confuses her_.»

« _Does she love her?_ » Aure wanted to get to the point. Even if she already imagined that Meragda had a crush on Spectrolite, Aure wanted to hear a clear answer.

The pearl sighed. « _Deeply_ …» as she imagined: the speech to the statue at the Indian Islands, her attempt to kiss Aure. It was pretty obvious though. « _After your first encounter on Earth, when the spaceship crushed, something changed in her._ »

Aure didn’t have the time to ask further that the pearl turned and started to walk again. Aure followed her in silence.

After a while Aure noticed that they were not doing the same path as before to go to the cells. Suddenly they stood in front of a giant door made of a strange type of crystal, with a pink contour and many violet diamond shaped etchings; at the centre a long horizontal staff divided the door into two separate crystal plates. The door seemed old as if nobody used it for ages.

« _Go away, Topazes. My Emerald's orders_ » the green pearl spoke. Now Aure was truly confused. The two Topazes left them alone with a suspicious look on their faces.

« _What is this door?_ » asked Aure.

« _This door is the direct access to Resplendent Spectrolite's Hot Springs. If you are truly her, it should be simple opening this door_.»

How could Aure explain her current situation about Spectrolite's gem? This was so frustrating for her: Spectrolite was no more physically alive, she was not her! She was a person, a total different living being with a Gem stuck in her sacrum; she has her own ideas, her own feelings, her own personality. Why does nobody seem to understand this?

« _As I was trying to say to…Emerald, I'm **not** her. Spectrolite is gone, from many years actually_»

The green pearl snorted. « _Nonsense. Resplendent Spectrolite still lives through you. You are only a shell_ »

Aure was gradually losing her patience, didn’t Steven's experience teach anything? She sighed exasperated. Despite the pearl's behaviour, Aure needed to go through that door, that's the purpose of the mission.

She observed it, a bad preserved door: cracks everywhere, missing pieces and faded colours. A long time ago it should have been a wonderful and impressive entrance. The horizontal staff at the centre of the door looked like her weapon, the javelin. She immediately summoned it, making it twirl between her fingers, then she touched the door with its end: the door moved slightly raising a lot of dust; Aure quickly removed the javelin and the door came back in its original position.

« _Maybe there is a sort of combination to open it_.» pointed out the green pearl. She was right, perhaps a combination of movements with the javelin against the crystal plates.

Then Aure thought: what could be a good combination for this door? Something linked to Spectrolite for sure, but what? She closed her eyes deep in thought, she tried to think at everything useful. Like a flash, an image appeared in Aure's mind, a sort of drawing.

« _Maybe I have something_ …» 

Aure used the end of her javelin to draw on the crystal plate: in a single line, she drew a large circle, after that a spilled triangle inside it and then she hit the centre of the triangle with the lower end of the javelin. The door seemed to "absorb" the draw inside the crystal plates and it started to shake again: the long staff changed position (from horizontal to vertical) and the shake became stronger.

Then the door opened slightly, a tiny split large enough to let a person go through it. Aure, without hesitation, passed through the door; soon, it started to close again so the green pearl rushed inside.

« _Why didn't you keep it open?_ » the green pearl asked a bit angry. Aure wasn’t paying attention to her in that moment. « _Hey! I'm talking to you! What are you looking…at_ …» the pearl followed Aure's gaze and fell silent.

In front of them, a breath-taking sight. It seemed like they landed on another planet: it was dark and warm like in a hot summer night on Earth. The only source of light came from the "sky": a greenish blue shade with many shining stars reflected their light to the ground; on the horizon you could see mountains, lakes, falls and countless trees. A lot of species of organic life were unknown to Aure: for example, a strange, big plant had a cute pink colour that gradually blended in a violet shade and its foliage was made of bright balls; other plants were tall trees with huge round trunks, while above them thin, rounded leaves in a crimson red shade fluttered to a gentle breeze. Aure walked towards this strange red tree and touched its trunk.

« _Don't-!_ » the green pearl tried to warn her but it was too late. The red tree immediately "closed" its leaves in a sort of round cocoon revealing a semi-transparent leaf body. Aure laughed a bit.

« _Are you crazy?! Don’t touch anything here!_ »

Aure smiled, amused by the pearl's reaction. Aure sensed that place was safe, totally safe. « _Let's keep going, shall we?_ » she asked and started to follow a path in the forest.

« _W-Wait! Don’t leave me behind!_ » the pearl rushed to walk behind Aure.

The more they walked and the closest the sound of flowing water became, even the temperature was higher than before. A thin haze formed at the base of the trees and the green pearl was on alert hiding behind Aure.

« _Now I understand why nobody had access to this area…it's freaking scary_ …» said the pearl.

After a while Aure stopped and the pearl bumped into her back. « _Why did you stop_ -» she tried to ask but she was interrupted by another breath-taking sight: an underground lake with falls and aquatic creatures in its waters (mostly fish). The high temperature came from there.

« _These are_ …» started the green pearl.

« _The Hot Springs_.» finished Aure.

That place was so…isolated, somehow. As if time, problems and responsibilities didn’t exist there. Those Hot Springs gave a sense of peace and relaxation almost hypnotic.

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

« _So that's what happened to you, huh?_ » the green pearl said while dangling lazily using few lianas. She and Aure found that place so relaxing that they decided to loosen up a bit. In the meantime, Aure summarised her story even though she didn’t mention her dreams.

« _Yeah more or less_.» Aure replied, her bare feet were immersed in the warm water.

« _So you are more like Steven Universe_ …»

« _Not exactly…it's really complicated_ …» the two Gems stood in silence for a while enjoying the peace and tranquility of that place. « _Your Emerald will be worried about you_ »

« _My Emerald will be fine_ ∼» the green pearl said while yawning. After few other minutes of silence, she jolted down her "hammock".

« _MY EMERALD WILL BE WORRIED!_ » she uttered in panic with her hands in the hair. « _We have to come back!_ »

«Yeah yeah.» Aure sighed and stood up still barefoot. « _Even though_ …» Aure was thoughtful ignoring the green pearl who was arguing with her. Until suddenly a painful headache hit her like a train; the pain was so intense that she lost balance and fell on the ground, unconscious.


	20. ★20

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

Again, the black room appeared. This time with more cracks than before. Both Cordelia and Spectrolite were there.

« _Your emotions must not condition you. You are better than this_ »

« **How?! I thought coming here would give us an answer! Who did this to us?! Why me?!** » the room started to tremble violently.

« _Keep calm, getting angry doesn’t solve anything_ » Cordelia was angry too but she didn’t show any emotion, she always had a neutral expression on her face.

« **I'm sick of you! If we are going to win this body, diplomacy is not the right weapon!** »

Neither Aure nor Cordelia replied to her statement. They knew it was a battle with only one winner, the other will perish.

« **To win, I have to act! Faster than you!** » Spectrolite ran towards Aure, her 10' (3m) figure was rushing menacingly.

« _Stop Spectrolite!_ »

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

Someone was shaking Aure with force. « _Come on! Wake up!_ » Aure opened her eyes quickly and she saw the green pearl above her.

« _At last! You fainted so suddenly!_ » the pearl climbed down from her and helped Aure to stood up. « _We need to go_ »

Aure only nodded while still confused; then, with her head still spinning, she guided the green pearl out of there.

**★★★**

« _Why did you take so long, pearl?_ » Meragda asked to her pearl in the throne room. She was with Pyrope (who wasn’t interested in her at all), who sat on her green throne.

« _I apologise, my Emerald. The prisoner…tried to escape many times and I had to stop her_.»

Meragda nodded yet not fully convinced. She gestured her to take her seat at her feet and start her work. The green pearl did as order and started to check the situation in the army.

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

« _I need foooood!_ » groaned Aure from her cell. « _I'm half human, you know!_ »

« _Shut up!_ » a Jasper smashed her fist against the wall and Aure fell silent. When the Jasper was far enough, Aure started again her complain. She didn’t eat anything for a whole day and her stomach hurt **a lot**. She was starving. 

After a while, Aure heard the jail's door open and someone was standing in front of her cell, creating a long yellow shadow on the floor. Aure turned towards the door and saw Pyrope's pearl.

« _Gliese, right?_ »

The reddish pearl nodded. With a gentle movement, she placed her hand on the button outside the cell to open the yellow force field.

« _Since Major General Emerald and her pearl are busy, General Pyrope sent me here. Major General Emerald wants to see you_ » Gliese said with kind, low voice. She was looking at Aure with one eye, the only one not covered by her fluffy curly hair. She remembered her since their first encounter at the Indian Islands, when she lied at Pyrope about Aure and the others being there.

Aure stood up and followed Gliese; before leaving the cells, Aure looked frantically around her in search of her friends. She was afraid something **bad** happened to them.

« _Don’t worry about the others. They are in a different part of the jail_ » Gliese said as if she read in Aure's mind.

« _Are they alright?_ »

« _Bored but fine_ »

The two kept walking in silence, eventually Gliese would greet some Gem in the corridors. Before entering the main throne room.

« _Major General Emerald, the prisoner is here. If you excuse me, my Pyrope needs me_.»

« _Yes, you may go pearl_ » spoke Meragda without looking at her. The pearl lowered her head and went away.

Finally, Aure could have a good look of the throne room: the lilac colour of the walls, the long transparent pipes of the different elevators, the many doors alongside the walls and then, the three chairs: the pink-reddish one of Pyrope, the sea-green chair of Meragda and the abandoned cobalt blue throne at the top of the other two.

Then Aure looked at Meragda, busy and focused on her holographic screen; her pearl was busy too. She stayed silent for a while, in total embarrassment.

« _Pearl, could you take care of it while I'm away?_ »

« _Of course, my Emerald_ » the green pearl replied and took in her hands the holographic screen from Meragda. Then, the green Gem stood up from her throne and ran down the three steps that separates her chair from the floor.

« _Come with me, human_.» began Meragda towards Aure and walked away. Aure looked at the green pearl and she gestured to follow the Emerald and Aure went behind Meragda. They walked for a while without speaking. Suddenly, a grumble broke the silence.

« _What was that?_ »

« _Ops sorry_ ∼» Aure scratched the back of her head. « _It's my stomach_ …»

Meragda raised an eyebrow.

« _I'm hungry, humans need food to survive_ » the Emerald nodded and led Aure in a room with a golden door.

« _So I did it right when I brought **them** here_» Meragda opened the door: inside a large crystal table was full of food; in the room, Lace, Ruby and White Sapphire sat in a corner.

« _Guys!_ » Aure uttered happy. They turned and smiled at her.

« _Aure!_ » the three of them said together and rushed over her. Lace picked Aure up, making her fly in the air (Aure almost hurt herself because of Lace's horns).

« _My girl! Are you alright?_ » Lace hugged tightly Aure.

« _Everything is ok, Lace! I'm hungry as always!_ » Aure laughed and Lace put her down. Then Aure hugged Ruby. « _My dear Ruby, did they hurt you?_ »

Ruby wiped her tears quickly and looked at Aure with pride. « _Rubies are strong!_ »

Aure smiled. « _Of course, especially you_ » she ruffled her dark red square hair.

« _Greetings. I'm extremely happy knowing your physical health is fine. Of course I already knew that everything would be fine but I'm happy in any case_.» everyone looked at White Sapphire, the one who talked so formerly. Even Meragda was confused.

« _Don't listen to her, she was worried sick_ » Lace laughed.

« _White Sapphire_ …» Aure smiled and kneeled down at her. « _There's no need to be so formal around me. And call me by my name, Aure…ok?_ »

White Sapphire stood there, not moving. Then a single tear fell on her face.

« _White?_ » Aure was worried.

« _I was so worried, Aure! I saw so many terrible possibilities! Where you died or we got shuttered! I didn’t know what to believe!_ » White Sapphire was crying, her ash-grey face was wet.

« _But it didn’t happen, right? We are all safe and sound_ » Aure tried to wipe the tears with her white shirt. She smiled and White Sapphire smiled back.

« _Where is Blueberry?_ »

« _If with that silly name you mean the blue pearl, she is still in jail_.» replied Meragda, still next to the door.

« _What?! Why?_ »

« _Pyrope's orders…and I don’t want to disobey her_.» Meragda looked away. « _Now do that thing with your mouth and consume the food._ » she uttered and left the room.

**★★★**

Lace, Aure, Ruby and White Sapphire were still in that room, a yellow one; the table was empty while Aure's stomach was full, now she was at stake once again. Meragda left few minutes ago and didn’t come back yet.

« _Did you know something about all this?_ » asked Aure.

« _Not much, girl_ »

« _I heard from a Sapphire that Pyrope and Emerald were in trouble_ » replied White Sapphire.

« _What troubles?_ » now Aure was curious.

« _Someone said Pyrope wants to convict Blueberry for her "crimes" while Emerald asked to wait a little bit_ » explained White Sapphire.

« _She wants…to wait? To wait what?_ » Lace asked to the tiny white Gem.

The White Sapphire didn’t reply. Ruby did it instead: « _Given that Blueberry is Spectrolite's pearl, Emerald believe that "execute" her in front of…Spectrolite is not something nice to do_ »

« _She really believes that Aure is the original Spectrolite?_ » Lace was truly amused by that situation.

« _It's the only reason for Emerald's hesitation_ » pointed out Ruby.

The group kept thinking about their current situation and how to come back to Earth when the golden door opened again.

« _Have you finished with that disgusting practice?_ » it was Meragda.

« _It's called "eating", you know_ …» whispered Lace.

« _Yes, everything was excellent_ …» Aure stood in front of her friends as to protect them.

« _I don’t really care about the quality or the taste anyway. I have to bring you in the jails again, before Pyrope finds out_ »

« _Emerald, I have to ask you something first_ …» said Aure.

« _What do you want?_ »

« _I want to visit Blueberry_.»


	21. ★21

« _Emerald, I have to ask you something first_ …» said Aure.

« _What do you want?_ »

« _I want to visit Blueberry_.»

« _What?_ »

Aure couldn’t read Meragda's face, she had a stoic façade on her. But she could tell something was bothering her, a turmoil of thoughts and emotions were spinning in her head for sure.

« _You have to ask General Pyrope_.»

« _You know very well she will never let me see her, Meragda!_ »

The Emerald was quiet. Her cool and neutral face didn’t show any emotion; then her gaze moved to the other Gems: Lace, Ruby were like on alert, ready to fight while White Sapphire was strangely relaxed. She suddenly turned towards the golden door.

« _Only the human…the rest will go back to the jail_ » after that, she left.

**★★★**

The coloured hallways of the jail changed their shades every now and then. Meragda went with Aure towards Blueberry's cell, the furthest small room in the jail.

« _There_ …»

Meragda stopped and Aure came up beside her.

«Blueberry!» Aure called her close to the yellow force field. The pearl, curled up in a corner with her knees against her chest, raised her head towards the voice. Her face immediately lighted up for the joy and rushed towards Aure but the yellow field stopped her.

« _My Aure!_ » she cried from her cell.

« _Wait a second, you two_ » Meragda said in a soft, low voice and deactivated the yellow field. Immediately after that, Blueberry jumped in Aure's arms. The half-Gem, on her part, tried her best not to fall backwards.

« _I'm so relieved, my Aure! And I'm sorry too…this is all my fault, our covering was ruined because of me. Now everyone is in danger…even you_ » Blueberry looked terrible: she was tired, her hair was a mess and her eyes were heavy.

« _Coming here was my idea, Blueberry…I'm the only one to blame_ »

« _No, please don’t say that_ »

The two Gems kept talking for a while, ignoring an embarrassed Emerald next to them for the entire time of their conversation.

« _Time's up!_ » Meragda had a dark green blush on her face while warning the blue pearl.

« _No wait! A little bit more_ …» Blueberry begged.

« _Don’t worry, Blueberry. I'll come to visit you every day_. _Nothing will happen to you_.» Aure hugged for the last time and the pearl came back in her cell, this time with a smile on her face.

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

« _Human, I cannot come with you during your walks in the Mothership. She is Desert Rose, your partner for your strolls_ » Meragda introduced to Aure a new Gem, a Desert Rose: a big, bulky gem with cocoa brown skin except for the right led in a Bordeaux shade and both her hands (in a cream colour), plump lips, light brown eyes and fluffy, long brown hair; she wore a sort of dark red top with puffy shoulder pads and cream high boots. She had her round gem on her right thigh.

Aure swallowed hard, scared by that presence. « _H-Hello_ …»

« _Desert Rose, you know the orders. I leave her to you_ »

« _Yes ma'am!_ » even her voice was scary, very low and deep. Then Meragda left using one of the elevator.

Aure looked at her new companion and noticed a blue rhombus on her chest. « _Were you made for…Blue Diamond?_ »

« _Thousands of years ago, yes_ »

Then, a heavy, tense atmosphere filled the air. « _W-Well…shall we go?_ » Aure was incredibly embarrassed.

« _I'm right behind you_ » Desert Rose looked straight in her green-blue eyes.

Aure started her little trip in the Mothership, followed by Desert Rose. She discovered many wonderful places: gardens, stadiums, dance halls, armouries and so on. After a while, they reached a strange empty room with a floating sphere in the middle of it. The room seemed old and abandoned, as if nobody went there for a while.

« _What's that?_ » asked Aure referring to the sphere.

« _It's an observation orb. The Diamonds used them to watch the activities on their colonies from afar_ »

« _So this device is connected to…what?_ »

« _To Olliecury of course, Spectrolite's planet. The one below this ship_ »

Desert Rose knew many things, she was incredible. She replied at every question in detail and her way to explain things was much like the narrator's voice in documentaries.

« _Really?! How does it work!?_ » Aure was excited, she wanted to try that piece of Gem technology.

« _I'm not allowed to show you_ …»

« _Well, **I** 'm allowed to show **me**_ » she said frankly and went closer to the orb.

« _Wait…only Spectrolite and her pearl could activate that thing_ …» Desert Rose explained worriedly.

« _I'm not so sure about that_ …»

Aure was now in front the sphere: it was smooth yet covered with dust; even the walls and the floor had dust and dirt scattered around. She touched the orb with one finger and…

…

Nothing happened.

« _Maybe that's because it's dirty_ …» seeing Aure's frown, Desert Rose came close to her.

« _Is it broken?_ » asked Desert Rose.

« _I don’t know…perhaps we have to clean it up_.»

« _Clean…it up? Maybe it's old, try to touch it with more force._ »

« _Are you sure?_ »

« _At the very least, it will not work again_.»

Aure nodded and touched the orb with her hand (and not the finger), using the palm to push with force. This time the orb turned on with a blue light: it floated mid-air and the blue ray illuminated the walls too making them shine in the darkness; then the orb took the shape of Olliecury (a fascinating blue – green planet with a prominent ring system) and two tiny dots appeared too (the two moons).

« _This orb could be activated by anyone_ …» Aure said more to herself than to Desert Rose.

« _Now touch a random part of that orb!_ » instructed Desert Rose visibly excited.

Aure smiled and touched a part of the planet: the orb immediately projected onto the walls and floor of the room the image of a beautiful, giant waterfall, with many colourful trees and massive strange animals; then Aure touched another area of the orb: in this zone everything was red (grass, animals, plants and even the clouds).

« _This is gorgeous!_ » uttered Aure in pure joy. « _One more time!_ »

Aure touched the central part of the planet and her large happy smile immediately fell. What she saw in front of her eyes, thanks to the three-dimensional hologram, made her uncomfortable. In an arid, sandy landscape a large grey building stood out towards the sky; a massive yet far red sun illuminated the sky, making the atmosphere hotter and drier.

« _That star is Phorix 8H, a red supergiant …the main source of life for Olliecury_.» explained Desert Rose but Aure was not listening to her. She was more focused on the grey building… **it was familiar somehow**. Then suddenly…

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

« **I just realised something** …»

« _What is it, my Spectrolite?_ »

The two Gem stood in the same room with the orb, they were looking at the hologram of the grey building in the desert area of Olliecury. Spectrolite seemed gloomy and upset.

« **I…I'm a monster, Saiph** …»

The pearl was astonished and gasped loudly. « _M-My Spectrolite! Why you say that!_ »

« **Because it's true, Saiph…just look in front of you. This planet** _…»_ Spectrolite paused, going around the orb. « **This planet was so damaged when Yellow Diamond gave it to me, it was almost dead. But I tried so hard to keep it safe from Gem incubators…from Kindergartens** …» she explained. Her voice was so sad and full of sorrow.

« _This is not being a monster, my Spectrolite…you saved the planet_.» Saiph tried to reassure her.

« **Yes but…we use its resources, we expand our bases destroying everything. I'm not much better than the Diamonds….Rose Quartz was right: the Diamonds take life and leave nothing behind. As I did so many times during these eons** » Spectrolite looked at the orb with grief.

« _That's not true, my Spectrolite! You did so many good and remarkable things!_ » her loyal pearl tried her best to make her happy, she hated seeing Spectrolite in that state.

Saiph, the blue pearl, noticed her owner's behaviour in these few millennia: before, she was insolent, brave, severe and with an evident sense of duty; but now, Spectrolite was down in the dumps.

Maybe it was the last events that worried her: Rose Quartz's small group of rebels, the Diamonds' pressure, the incoming war. Spectrolite seemed to approve the ideas of the rebels' leader but she could not say that openly: she was a soldier created for Yellow Diamond and as such she had to serve the Diamonds in any case. But the idea of freedom, to decide whoever you want to be, leaving that oppressive system…it was tempting for Spectrolite.

« **I did not, Saiph…I shattered Gems, conquered planets, destroyed solar systems. I did what the Diamonds told me to do thinking it was good…I became illustrious, yes…but at what cost** …»

« _You were only carrying out the orders, my Spectrolite_ …»

« **It's not that, Saiph…I hadn’t the courage to rise up** » the tall Gem took off her tiara and looked at the gem stuck in it: an Emerald, a Tanzanite, a Red Beryl and a Jadeite. « **Those Gems…are living things…stuck in this crown for a whim** »

A tense silence filled the air. Spectrolite was staring at her crown and Saiph didn’t dare so say anything, lowering her head in defeat. She failed to cheer her owner up.

« **It's too late, isn’t it?** »

« _Too late for what, my Spectrolite?_ »

« **To apologise** …»

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

« _It's never too late to apologise_ …» whispered Aure, back in her senses.

« _Hey human, are you alright?_ » asked Desert Rose.

Aure stared at the orb (now turned off) then nodded. « _Yes, don’t worry…I'm fine_.»


	22. ★22

« _It's never too late to apologise_ …» whispered Aure, back in her senses.

« _Hey, human, are you alright?_ » asked Desert Rose.

Aure stared at the orb (now turned off) then nodded. « _Yes, don’t worry…I'm fine_ »

Desert Rose looked at her with concern but didn’t ask further. She took Aure back to the jail just in time for Pyrope to come back. Desert Rose closed the yellow force field of the cell and in that exact moment Pyrope entered the jail, walking faster towards her.

« _You, Desert Rose!_ » Pyrope shouted at the light brown Gem.

« _Yes, ma'am?_ » she stood at attention waiting for orders. Aure observed the scene from the corner of her cell.

« _Report to me the situation about the prisoners_ »

« _Yes ehm…the Amethyst and the Ruby didn’t want to collaborate, the blue pearl stopped talking and the human…well_ …» Desert Rose stuttered at the end of her sentence.

« _What about the human? Is she it?_ » Pyrope looked inside the cell towards Aure. But only for few seconds.

« _The human…has no significant information, ma'am_ »

« _Really? Hmm_ …» Pyrope seemed in thought then she spoke again. « _Make her presentable and bring her in my apartments, my pearl will help you. I want to talk to her **personally**_ »

« _Yes, ma'am!_ » replied Desert Rose and stood in her position until Pyrope left the jails. She sighed. « _You're in big trouble, human_ »

« _What do you mean?_ »

« _Pyrope wants to talk to you in private…it is not a good sign_ »

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

« _I thought Gems don’t need clothes_ …»

« _Exactly, but it's funny to make them_ »

Aure and Gliese were in a sort of dressmaker with other Gems: they make costumes and clothes even if not all Gems use them.

« _I want to introduce you our best stylists: Dravite and Hübnerite_ ». Gliese went closer to two Gems focused on their mannequin: one had a dark cherry red skin and was as tall as Aure, while the other was much smaller and had a brown shade of skin.

« _Dravite…Hübnerite, this is the human General Pyrope talked about_ »

The short gem was the first one to approach Aure. « _Hello human from Earth! I'm Dravite_ » she showed her square Gem under her arm. Dravite was tall as Amethyst with a Bordeaux top without sleeves, a sort of scarf around her shoulders and short dark brown hair divided into two separate ponytails and brown pants.

« _Hi there, Dravite_.» Aure waved her hand to greet her. Then the tall Gem came up beside Dravite.

« _It's the first time I see a real human from Earth! I'm Hübnerite, expert stylist_ » she had the same height as Aure: dark cherry red skin, long brown hair with a strange lock behind her head shaped like flames, salmon opened jacket with long sleeves and exposed shoulders, dark shorts and high black socks. Her Gem was located on her left cheek.

« _Make her presentable for General Pyrope_ » ordered Gliese and the two stylists nodded, then the pink-reddish pearl left the dressmaker.

The three of them stood in silence making the sound of machines and scissors loud in that room.

« _Well, human from Earth, do you have an idea of what you want to wear?_ » asked Dravite with happiness. She couldn’t wait to sew another cute dress.

« _Actually, my name is Aure_ » she smiled.

« _Ok Aure from Earth, do you have an idea of what you want to wear?_ » Dravite asked again.

« _Uhm…no. Fashion is not my field_ »

« _That's why we are here, dear_ » Hübnerite replied and went around Aure to take a good look at her. « _So on Earth, these are "clothes"? We have to fix this terrible situation_ »

« _Why terrible? I like these clothes_ » Aure looked at her white shirts with a purple rhombus printed on it.

« _They are terrible not ugly, Aure from Earth. It's different_ »

"Actually it's the same thing…" Aure thought by herself.

« _Let's fix this, Dravite_ »

« _Gladly_ ∼»

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

« _That's it! Elegance and comfort in one dress_!» said Hübnerite with joy looking at Aure.

The garment was mostly black except for a large white collar under which you could notice a blue tie that hid below the top dress; the dress was composed by a dark jacket with puffy 3/4 sleeves, it was closed by tiny buttons; on Aure's hands a delicate pair of white fingerless gloves that covered both the hands and the arm; a pair of dark shorts and silver coloured sandals completed the outfit.

« _This is wonderful, Hübnerite!_ » Aure was astonished, in love with her new dress.

« _It's not finished yet_ » said Dravite. « _We need a touch of class_ » Dravite put on Aure's head a fine, delicate silver tiara; a tiny tie placed on her forehead.

« _Now it's finished, dear_ ∼» replied Hübnerite. « _I told you I'm an expert stylist_ ∼»

« _We are **both** expert stylists_…» pointed out Dravite.

The three of them were still talking and chatting when they were interrupted by Gliese.

« _Very well, you did a discrete job…now, General Pyrope is waiting for you in her room, human_ »

Aure waved at her two stylists and followed Gliese in the main coloured corridors of the Mothership. No words were spoken between the two but Aure was truly worried and a bit scared. Pyrope seemed a terrifying Gem from her point of view. That's what Aure learned from Desert Rose about her: she became General many millennia ago thanks to her military activity for Yellow Diamond; she did many bad things especially destroying planets (many Gems say "it's her speciality"). Even if pyropes were usually cheerful yet snobbish, General Pyrope was only snobbish and _rarely_ cheerful.

Eventually, Gliese and Aure arrived at Pyrope's door. « _Remember: the slower she talks, the angrier she is_ » warned the pearl. Aure nodded in pure fear.

Gliese opened the door and announced Aure and herself. Pyrope gestured to enter and the pearl did as ordered. Aure took a closer look to the General's room: nothing compared to Meragda's room, Pyrope had a particular sense of beauty and external look; her room was much more like a giant ball room with pink-red walls and floor, decorated with many statues ("I saw them at the Sea Spire too!" Aure thought when she looked at them), golden decorations and round windows that faced the space.

"Meragda's room is nicer…"

« _Well, so you are the famous "half-gem" that seeped inside this ship, huh?_ »

« _Actually I_ -»

« _Why?_ » Pyrope interrupted her abruptly.

« _Uh?_ »

« _Why now after all this time?_ » those were the same questions Meragda asked her not long ago. But this time without the same emotions the Emerald put in her speech. Pyrope was more neutral with the others.

« _Major General Emerald said you have **her** javelin, is it true?_»

« _It's a javelin, yes, but it's **mine**_ » Aure wanted to prove at least to Pyrope she wasn’t Spectrolite. She had enough of people telling her who she is. She is the only one who knows her true identity.

« _Yours? Don’t make me laugh_ » Pyrope was actually laughing. « _Every Gem had her own distinctive weapon and Spectrolite's was a javelin. A green-blue one indeed_ » Pyrope stood up from her fancy chair and walked on the other side of the room. « _Sometimes, some weapons could look like others, but each is unique_ » she summoned her weapon, a red hand fan.

« _Come on! Show me!_ » Pyrope looked straight into Aure's green eyes. Aure felt so small under her gaze.

« _I don’t want to fight with you!_ » she uttered still in fear.

« ** _Show me who you truly are_**.» she shouted at Aure and threw her hand fan as a boomerang. Aure avoided the hit at the last second and the hand fan was fitted in the pink wall. With a quick movement, that hand fan came back in the hands of its owner.

Aure stood up again looking at the tall Gem on the other side of the room. « _There's no need to fight, Pyrope_ …»

« _There is! You need to prove your existence… **to me**. Show me that Spectrolite really died and you are not one of her regenerations! Show me that you are not her!_»

« _A weapon does not define a Gem! Not all Amethysts have whips, not all Pearls have spears and not all Pyropes have hand fans! So not all spectrolites or labradorites have javelins! Instead of judging Gems by their weapons, try to think why Spectrolite disappeared! Accept that she is gone._ »

If looks could kill, Aure would be already dead because Pyrope's sharp gaze was looking straight at her. Despite this angry look, Pyrope seemed deep in thought; Aure hoped that making her reason.

« _You don’t know her…at all_ » spoke Pyrope after a long silence.

« _And you? Can you tell that you know her?_ » this simple question upset Pyrope. Her hand fan disappeared but she didn’t move.

« _More than you for sure_ …»

Aure raised an eyebrow still sceptical. This upset even more Pyrope: for the first time she had **doubts**.

« _Pearl!_ » she shouted. From behind Aure, Gliese appeared. She was there for the entire time?!

« _Yes, my Pyrope?_ »

« _I'm done with her…and convene Lieutenant Colonel Hessonite_ »

« _As you wish, General Pyrope. Follow me human_ » she and Aure left that pinkish room and when they were far enough, Gliese talked first.

« _Did you really make Pyrope upset without being poofed? I knew you were special_ »

« _What do you mean?_ »

Gliese was truly cryptic sometimes. « _You have Spectrolite's Gem inside you yet you are not her. And you made Pyrope hesitant of her own decisions. You are incredible_ »

« _So…you believe me?_ »

« _If you say you're not her, why should I doubt about it? I know very well Spectrolite is gone millennia ago: I realised and accepted it while others didn’t, like Emerald and Pyrope_ » her delicate voice was almost a whisper to Aure. She was touched by her words: she was the first Gem who believed her (except her friends, of course). She was about to cry but wiped out her tears quickly.

« _Thank you!_ »

« _Moreover, Spectrolite was a bit down before and during the war against Rose Quartz_ …»

« _Really? Why?_ »

« _I don’t know, you should ask Saiph…or…to our academics_ »

« _Academics?_ »

« _Exactly, academics. You know, before this era of peace and equality, every Gem was made for a purpose…when they came out from their hole, they already knew their tasks. We have soldiers, philosophers, architects and academics too. Spectrolite often asked their advices_ »


	23. ★23

« _Academics?_ »

« _Exactly, academics. You know, before this era of peace and equality, every Gem was made for a purpose…when they came out from their hole, they already knew their tasks. We have soldiers, philosophers, architects and academics too. Spectrolite often asked their advices_ »

« _Really? Could I meet them, please?_ » maybe this was the perfect occasion for Aure to learn something about her and Spectrolite as well.

Gliese, from her part, was staring at Aure with her sharp look, much similar to the gaze of Pyrope but much gentler and not full of hate. It was like she was studying her.

« _I guess we have to pass through the Library to go back to the jails. Follow me, human Aure_ » she replied and started to walk towards a light yellow hallway. Aure ran behind her and followed the pinkish pearl in that labyrinth of hallways and elevators.

The atmosphere between Aure and Gliese was much nicer than before, the pearl was not so bad after all. She could be cryptic and a bit strange with her looks sometimes, but her behaviour was kind and her smile contagious.

« _Gliese, can I ask you something?_ » questioned Aure. Even though the pearl didn’t respond, Aure knew she could talk. « _I noticed you are a lot different from Pyrope…is it something made on purpose or not?_ »

Gliese closed her eyes and smiled; then sighed and stopped her walk. « _That's because I was not made for her originally_ »

« _Uh? Really?_ » Aure stopped as well next to her.

« _Yes. My original owner was a Pink Jade…of course in Pink Diamond's court_ » Gliese was not showing any emotion in her speech so Aure had difficulties to understand if she could continue asking or not.

« _What happened to her?_ »

« _She fought for the Diamonds during the war_.» Gliese closed her eye.

« _Oh…I'm sorry_ …» Aure imagined Pink Jade's fate in that battle.

« _That was the happiest day of my life_ …» Gliese continued her story ignoring Aure's apologies. « _Pink Jade was not the nicest Gem in Pink Diamond's court, you know. She changed many pearls because she had the habit to hit them to the point of breaking them. I was her last chance_ » Gliese opened again her eye and looked at Aure, studying her.

« _Then, after only a millennium with her, she did it again. And again…and again, for 500 years. As a pearl I was not allowed to react…then she did this_ » she moved her curly lock that covered her left eye and Aure gasped: a large crystallized pink crack on her eye, part of her cheek and forehead.

« _Of course she was not punished for her actions because Pink Diamond had other important things to do such as Rose Quartz and her Crystal Gems. Then Pink Jade, in the final battle at the Strawberry Fields, fought in the Diamond's side_ »

« _Did she win?_ »

« _No. Pink Jade was going to attack Emerald from behind and Pyrope shattered her in one single hit_ »

« _You were at the Strawberry Fields too?_ »

« _We were all there: me, Pyrope, Emerald, Spectrolite, Saiph_ …»

« _Then what happened?_ »

« _Pyrope was going to shatter me too but I thanked her for what she did to Pink Jade. I said I was finally free and I didn’t care about my destiny. In that moment, Pyrope had the same reaction she had with you few minutes ago: she was upset, filled with doubts. Then she said few words, I remember them as if it happened yesterday: “Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better. Be better with me”. And from that moment I started to serve her…the best 4500 years of my life_ »

It was the second time that a Gem told Aure her own story without hesitation. The first time was with Ruby, back in Kansas during the shooting of the movie "Country Love". Was that Aure's influence? Her Gem was working again?

« _I almost forgot that sensation_ …» Gliese whispered, playing with her black dress.

Yes, Aure's Gem was working again, creating this relaxing and safe invisible bubble, far from problems and other responsibilities. In that hallway, where sometimes a group of soldiers or other Gems would pass through, it was like only Aure and Gliese were there.

« _Thank you for telling me this, Gliese_ »

« _When I saw Spectrolite for the first time at the Strawberry Fields she said not to be afraid or ashamed of our backstory. It's easier be yourself than to pretend to be someone else_ »

Aure smiled and thanked her again. Then the Gems proceeded their walk towards the Library. They met many other Gems during their stroll and confirmed that the Library was open.

« _Was it closed before?_ »

« _For a short time, yes_ »

Aure and Gliese arrived, at last, in front of the Library's door: a double heavy iridescent door coloured in light brown. Gliese was going to do the Gem Identification in order to enter the Library when the door opened in front of them.

« _Oh, hello Roheline_.»

« _Don’t use that name in front of the human! I'm green pearl!_ » Meragda's green pearl was leaving the Library in that exact moment with a large red book and a scroll under her arm.

« _So you actually **have** a name_» pointed out Aure, giggling softly.

Roheline became dark red for the embarrassment. « _Nice job Gliese, now the human knows my silly name! Tsk!_ »

« _Anytime_ ∼» replied Gliese with a smile (a real one this time) on her pink-red features. « _Is Sodalite available?_ »

« _Yes, she is with a group of Sapphires_ »

« _Thank you Roheline_ ∼»

« _Gaah! Enough!_ » the green pearl became more green than before and left the library. Gliese laughed softly and did the Gem Identification in a device next to the door. It recognised Gliese and the entry opened slowly.

Aure expected a massive, huge Library but in front of her she saw a small room with few pillows on the ground, a desk and a couple of shelves. At the desk Aure saw a blue Gem with short navy hair, light blue diamond-shaped glasses wearing a dress in many shades of blue.

« _Greetings, Sodalite_ »

The blue Gem raised her gaze from the book she was reading. « _Gliese! It's nice to see you_ » she whispered and got up from her chair. She and Gliese exchanged a quick hug.

« _Oh hello, you must be Aure from Earth_ »

« _You met Dravite, didn’t you?_ » asked Gliese.

Sodalite nodded. « _I already knew her thanks to our Sapphires_ »

In the meantime, Aure was a bit disappointed. She loved libraries and bookstores: in a spaceship like that, she expected a huge Library with many ancient and rare books. Instead, she saw a tiny room with only a couple of books.

« _Ah∼ I see the disappointed look in our human's eyes_ …» noticed Sodalite.

« _Well…I imagined a majestic library with ancient, magical books_ …» Aure lowered her shoulders.

« _That's because you didn’t look up, dear_ ∼» and Sodalite smiled at her.

Aure raised her gaze and gasped surprised: above her head a gorgeous, gigantic Library organised in concentric circles from the tiniest (where she, Gliese and Sodalite were) from the largest on the ceiling. While looking up open-mouthed, Aure almost "recognised" the ceiling and made a frown.

« _Above us there is the Orb room_.» explained Sodalite, noticing Aure's expression.

« _Really?_ » she uttered surprised. From above Aure heard some "sshhh!" and she fell silent.

« _Mh-mh_ » Sodalite nodded.

« _Where are the Sapphires?_ » asked Gliese.

« _Fifth ring, historical section_ » Gliese nodded and thanked Sodalite. They said goodbye to each other and Aure and Gliese started to climb the stairs. Aure saw so many Gems focused on their scrolls, papers or books, she was so excited.

Eventually they arrived at the fifth ring where Aure noticed there were more old books than the other rings. She and Gliese crossed many bookshelves and arrived in a tiny sitting room with armchairs, couches and pillows; it was there Aure saw the Sapphires: they were different shades of blue and there was a Padparadscha too.

« _Greetings, Sapphires_ »

« _Salutation, Gliese. Your visits are always appreciated_ » one of the Sapphires replied.

« _I predict Gliese will come to visit us with a guest_ » whispered Padparadscha.

« _Hello Padparadscha, the guest is Aure, a human from planet Earth_ » announced Gliese.

« _Ehm…hi_ » Aure's thoughts went to White Sapphire, still in the jail with the others. She felt bad for her.

« _Well, human…these are the Sapphires. As you know they predict the future through their vision_. _Actually, most of them_ »

«What do you mean?»

Everyone fell silent for a while, then Padparadscha spoke. « _I have Retrocognition!_ » she cheered.

« _Padparadscha's visions are of events in the recent past, making her predictions very late_ » the Sapphire from before spoke again.

« _It doesn’t matter, she is beautiful the way she is_ » Aure smiled. Then everyone was silent again, waiting for Padparadscha's reaction.

« _I predict Aure will say I'm beautiful the way I am…oh!_ » she blushed dark orange and smiled cupping her soft cheeks with her hands. Aure laughed softly.

But Padparadscha was not the only peculiar Sapphire in that group. Aure noticed a Gem in a lighter shade of blue with short hair on the front and a tiny high ponytail on the back; her dress had a navy hue and many layers of white cloth on her skirt. Aure couldn’t see her Gem placement in that moment.

« _She is Lunar Blue Sapphire_ » one of the Sapphire said before Aure could formulate a question. For the entire time Lunar Blue didn’t move, she was sitting on a large pillow. In a corner of the sitting room, a Ruby was keeping an eye on her.

« _You can come closer, don’t worry_ » said Gliese and gestured Aure to go closer to Lunar Blue. Aure, a bit hesitant, sat in front of Lunar Blue (on the ground, not on a pillow like her).

« _I predict Aure would be a bit uncomfortable and afraid of the Ruby_ » pointed out Padparadscha.

« _Hello human being from planet Earth. I met few of your specie_ » Lunar Blue whispered in her angelic voice, so low yet gentle like a caress. Aure could see only her plump almost grey lips, the other features were covered by her bangs.

« _Hi Lunar Blue_ …»

« _Sapphires, I have to leave for few minutes. Could you take care of her while I'm away?_ » asked Gliese.

« _Of course. She will stay with us until your return_ »

Aure saw Gliese leaving her with the blue Gems; then when she heard the door moving twice she knew she was alone with the Sapphires.

« _I have so many questions_ …»

« _Let's start then_ »


	24. ★24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: many flashbacks here♥

« _I have so many questions_ …»

« _Let's start then_ » the other Sapphires sat around Aure on the pillows.

« _I don’t know anything…people continue to telling me who am I supposed to be but_ …» Aure began.

« _You want to find the answer on your own_ » Lunar Blue replied.

« _Yes…nobody could tell me who am I…only me_ »

« _Indeed_ » one of the Sapphires confirmed.

★ **MEANWHILE** ★

Gliese was walking back to the jails; she left Aure in good hands with the Sapphires hoping she would find some answers. In the meantime, Gliese had a lot to think during her stroll: she just told her entire story to a stranger without hesitation. It was unusual even for her, so discreet and quiet; only Roheline and Saiph knew her past but few minutes ago.

When she revealed her secret to a complete stranger, she felt different. She didn’t know how to describe it: there were peace, silence and serenity. Emotions she hadn’t felt in a while. Gliese didn’t know if she could trust the human completely: she once lied to Pyrope at Indian Islands about Aure and her group being there and she didn’t know why. That would be simple, Pyrope would congratulate her; however, Gliese had the sensation that it was wrong, as if someone told her to keep quiet. And then **her** **voice** , she heard clearly Spectrolite's voice but it was the human who was talking.

The pinkish pearl was so focused on her thoughts that she didn’t notice a Gem who greeted her. Gliese felt a hand on her shoulder and gasped surprised. She turned and sighed in relief.

« _Iolite…hello_.»

Iolite was one of the first and tallest fusion in the Mothership: a pearl and a tanzanite choose to fuse permanently and create Iolite, a 7'25" (2.20m) light violet Gem with medium light purple hair, slim body and four arms; a Tanzanite was on her chest while the other Gem was hidden behind the hair; Iolite’s outfit consisted in a purple dress with a light blue veil on her shoulders.

« _Your mind is looking at the unmovable and it clouds your surroundings. What is bothering you?_ » Iolite, with other Gems, was a philosopher. She passed most of her time at the Library, reading and studying every book, map or scroll kept by Sodalite. But right now she was walking in those hallways like Gliese.

« _Oh nothing, Iolite. Don’t worry_ » Gliese smiled at her, trying to reassure her.

« _People with nothing to declare carry the most_ » she pointed out, intertwining her fingers. Gliese was astonished: she hated Iolite's phrases because she was so freaking right. But not now, Gliese was not ready yet.

Iolite seemed to noticed Gliese's discomfort and smiled at her. « _If you want to talk about it, you know where to find me_ » Iolite said goodbye to the pearl and left towards the Library. Gliese stood there with more questions on her head than before.

**★★★**

Pyrope was on her pink-red throne once again, Meragda was with her. Olliecury was a difficult colony to manage. Given that it was not used for Kindergartens, every Gem and every resource were numbered. The Diamonds almost stopped their own Kindergartens and Pyrope could not ask for further provisions of Gems. Olliecury wasn’t inhabited only by Gems but by creatures as well, and its flora and fauna were peculiar. But Pyrope could not care less, her thoughts were focused on something else: now she understood Meragda's hesitation too.

Gliese was with her, helping her with many chores. Bless her pearl actually, she was so understanding and caring about her even if sometimes she didn’t show it. That's what Pyrope loved about her pearl.

« _Pearl, could you take care of it while I'm away? I'm leaving for a few minutes_ »

« _Of course, my Pyrope_ » Gliese replied. Then Pyrope left the throne room, she could feel Meragda's gaze on her shoulders. When she was far enough from the throne room, she sighed heavily. Pyrope leant against the light green walls of the hallway. She sighed again, bringing one hand over her face.

« _Something is bothering my precious Pompom?_ » Pyrope raised her gaze to meet Hessonite's one. Dark red complexion, pale orange curly ponytail and orange-yellow jumpsuit. Her heels resounded in the empty hallway as she walked.

« _Oh it's you_ …» Pyrope's lips curved in a sincere smile. Hessonite came closed to her, resting her hand on Pyrope's pink puffy shoulder pads.

« _It's the first time, in so many millennia, I see you like this_ » Hessonite sounded worried.

« _Don’t worry, Hess…same old things_ »

« _I don’t believe you_ » Hessonite laughed. « _I know when something is annoying my Pompom_ » she smiled and caressed one of Pyrope's fuchsia curl.

The pinkish Gem smiled and sighed, defeated. « _It's that human_ …»

« _You mean the half-Gem who seeped here?_ »

« _Yeah_ …»

« _What about her?_ »

« _Despite she has Spectrolite's Gem, she is not like her…this upsets me_ » 

« _Are you…disappointed?_ » Hessonite knew Pyrope was close to Spectrolite and her disappearance shook her a lot. « _Maybe you expected her to come back?_ »

« _Everyone on this ship wants her return, you know very well_ »

« _Yeah, I know…perhaps she is the one who doesn’t want to come back_ »

« _What do you mean?_ » 

**★★★**

Many days passed and Aure and her friends were still in the jails. However, Meragda gave permission to the four of them to walk freely in the jails, to have at least two meals per day and for Aure to use the main "bathroom" escorted by a Topaz or an Amethyst.

« _And White Sapphire?_ » asked Aure while Blueberry was trying to braid her short wavy brown hair. Ruby lowered the head at the mention of White Sapphire.

« _A Peridot said that she had no faults in this story and let her go_.» replied Lace Amethyst yawning.

« _What?!_ » Aure gulped and the braid loosened. « _Ops…sorry Blueberry_.»

« _Well, I guess that Peridot was right…even if White Sapphire was a good friend, we "forced" her to help us_ …» continued Aure. « _Maybe now she is with the other Sapphires at the Library_ »

« _Did you visit the Library, my Aure?_ » asked Blueberry.

Aure nodded. « _Gliese brought me there. I met Sodalite and the Sapphires: Padparadscha and Lunar Blue_.»

Aure could feel Blueberry smile. « _The Library is one of my favourite place in the Mothership_. _Did you meet Iolite too?_ »

« _Iolite? Hmm… no, only the Sapphies and Sodalite_ »

« _Iolite is a philosopher. She is always at the Library to study or to meditate_ » Blueberry replied while tying the braid. 

Their imprisonment continued for many weeks meaning Meragda and Pyrope's hesitation was far from vanishing. Aure didn’t mind though; during her "imprisonment" she met many other Gems in the Mothership: alongside with Desert Rose (Aure's formal stroll partner), she made friends with Pezzottaite, a bright pink gem with cute fuchsia hair and dark pink eyes, a fast ex-scout; a strong Cassiterite, a pale orange builder who helped the construction of the Mothership; a Jeremejevite, a philosopher and friend of Iolite; and Diaspore, a lime-skin toned ex-soldier.

« _Did Homeworld have other…ehm…of you?_ » Aure asked to Pezzottaite while brushing her soft fuchsia hair.

« _Few of us. Most of us are in this Mothership. Spectrolite used to appreciate unique Gems…ones of a kind, like her_ » Aure finished to braid Pezzottaite's hair and she got up: the bright pink Gem was really tall (even taller than Blueberry or Lace Amethyst) and looked at herself at the mirror. « _Oh my stars! I like this!_ »

Aure knew Pezzottaite got excited for every single strange or particular thing and smiled. She thanked her and Pezzottaite ran away. Being an ex-scout, she had to be fast and she was **really** fast.

Aure became accustomed to the (boring) life inside the Mothership: Meragda never left the throne room (and so did her pearl, Roheline) but she gave total freedom to Aure and her friends (except for Blueberry); if Pyrope was present (thus becoming the main leader) she would only think about Olliecury and nothing else. This routine repeated for many weeks, every day. Thankfully Aure met other Gems to spend time.

However, something was bothering the (artificial) half-Gem: lately, her "strange" dreams intensified, having deep conversation both with Cordelia and Spectrolite. They used two different "rooms", one white for Cordelia and the black one for Spectrolite. Aure was lying against the seatback of Meragda's throne when she remembered the previous dreams.

♦️ **FLASHBACK** ♦️

White surrounded Aure, it was like being in that aseptic room back in the laboratory. After her eyes got accustomed to the bright colour, she saw Cordelia in a corner, the furthest from her; she was wearing that green hospital gown opened on the back. The two were exchanging a strange glare.

« _You didn’t realise yet, did you?_ » asked Cordelia.

Aure opened her eyes wide because Cordelia's voice echoed in that room. « _About what?_ »

« _Spectrolite, of course…you learned a lot about her. However, you could not find an answer at the question "who did it?"_ »

Aure nodded silently. It was true, she discovered many things about Spectrolite in the last few weeks at the Mothership. But that question, "who did it?" was still unsolved.

« _To summarise: Spectrolite was a brilliant yet cruel soldier who served all the Diamonds. She shattered Gems, destroyed planets, drained the life from entire solar systems. After a while, Yellow Diamond gave her one of her colonies, Olliecury, as a reward for her military services. She thought she had everything, but then she heard about Rose Quartz and realised: it was then that she changed, turning her existence upside-down. It was her chance to restart, creating an entire new identity where she could be whoever she wanted to be. But something stopped her: the war and the final battle at the Strawberry Fields. She wanted **so hard** to join the rebellion but her role was to serve the Diamonds and to avenge Pink Diamond: if she refused, all the Gem she saved, all the forbidden fusions welcomed to her Mothership would get punished_» Cordelia started the story, Aure following her reasoning nodding her head.

« _We are missing a piece…something happened to the Strawberry Fields_ » pointed out Aure.

« _Indeed. She never told me though_ »

♦️ **END OF THE FLASHBACK♦️**

Aure sighed, she agreed with Cordelia about Spectrolite: she was hiding something. However, if Aure tried to ask her about that, Spectrolite clammed up and refused to speak. So, to let her unload her feeling, she started to talk about Cordelia with Spectrolite.

♦️ **FLASHBACK** ♦️

The black room came back, Spectrolite was at few meters far from Aure. Her look was sad and defeated, Aure felt bad for her.

« **Strange creatures** …» Spectrolite started. Her voice was quiet as a whisper.

« _Uh?_ »

« **Humans**.» she continued a bit louder. « **You are strange. Weak yet complex. Fragile in the body yet emotionally strong. What's your secret?** »

« _That's how humanity works, I think_ » Aure replied.

« **Humanity huh? Yeah, maybe. However, I experienced that feeling too** …»

« _What feeling?_ » Aure wanted to let her talk as much as possible.

«… ** _humanity_** » for a brief moment, Aure heard her own voice coming out from Spectrolite's mouth. But maybe she only imagined it.

« _How was that?_ » she continued asking.

« **Cordelia was so weak when I met her…that man, her father, did terrible things to her. He wore her down completely: she didn’t laugh anymore, she didn’t smile anymore…she didn’t live anymore. He wanted me to maintain her: a light that could keep an organic life alive** »

« _That's…horrible_ …» Aure could sense her stomach writhed. A strange, disgusting feeling on her mouth.

« **She wanted to leave so badly …she tried again and again to convince her father…but he kept going with his experiments**»

Spectrolite paused her tale, looking down deep in thought. « **I was at odds with her** »


	25. ★25

« **She wanted to leave so badly …she tried again and again to convince her father…but he kept going with his experiments**»

Spectrolite paused her tale, looking down deep in thought. « **I was at odds with her** »

★ **END OF FLASHBACK** ★

« _Are you going to stay there for long?_ » asked Meragda, distracting Aure from her thoughts. « _Your Jasper friend wants to see you._ »

Aure popped out from her seatback and looked down. « _Cass!_ » uttered Aure and ran at her.

« _How's going my favourite organic friend?_ » Cass was a Jasper originally made for Blue Diamond, given that she wore a blue set of clothes and boots; light yellow-orange skin with orange markings, very pale orange hair and Gem on her chest. When Aure saw her for the first time, she thought that Cass was the Jasper who wanted to chase her and Blueberry at the beginning of the story. But then Aure remembered that Jasper was bubbled inside the Temple.

« _I'm the only organic life form here, Cass_.» Aure laughed.

« _That's why you are my favourite_ ∼» Cass chanted. Aure smiled and Cass smiled back at her. « _Are you ready for your daily training?_ »

« _The real question is: are you ready to be beaten again from me?_ » Aure smirked.

« _Really?_ » Cass smiled smugly, showing her sharp canines. « _If I recall right, you only beat me **once** in many hours of training_. _And only because I told you how to surprise your enemy_ » the Jasper came closer to her, using her 6'6" of height to create a long, massive shadow on Aure.

She gulped. « _Come on Cass, don’t use your height against me_.» Aure was always a bit scared of tall Gems, especially if they were ex-soldiers.

The pale orange skin toned Gem laughed and put an arm on Aure's shoulders. « _Let's start then, so I can use something else against you._ »

★ **AT THE ARENA** ★

The Freefall Arena: a large, round place where Gems could train. Through a giant door, a long hallway led to the arena's centre; above the entrance to the arena were four large coloured octahedrons that showed the Great Diamond Authority symbol (with Pink's symbol as well); this same pattern was repeated on the ground where a set of coloured tiles formed four diamond shaped figures one inside the other; many torches lighted up the place (even if it was not necessary) and stairs encircled the arena.

« _Today's lesson regards **weapons**_ »

« _W-Weapons?_ » Aure swallowed hard.

« _Yes, weapons. You cannot use your fists in every battle, sometimes weapons are necessary_ » then Cass summoned her weapon: a giant, sharpened orange drill. Aure went pale and swallowed hard again. « _Show me yours_ »

Aure tried to put her fair behind and summoned her green-blue javelin. She noticed how little and insignificant she was compared to Cass. Aure began to sweat in worry and her hands started to shake: fighting with Cass with bare hands was much more different than using weapons, Cass was scarier with her drill.

« _Don’t be scared…analyse first_ »

« _Analyse?_ »

« _Yes, observe the weapons. Mine is bigger, yes, but yours is more practical and lightweight than mine. You will be nimbler than me; however, my drill could inflict more damage. Sometimes, bigger does not mean powerful_ » explained Cass. This explanation cheered Aure up, reassuring her. She positioned herself, ready to fight. 

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

« _That's enough for today, Aure. Nice job for being your first lesson with weapons_ » Cass let her weapon disappear in the air as she dusted off her blue suit.

Aure was sweating, her entire body hurt and she didn’t emanate a good smell, at all. Her javelin disappeared too and she sat down at the stairs of the arena, trying to catch her breath. Cass came closer to her.

« _Are you alright?_ »

« _Yeah Cass, don’t worry. I'm getting used to my powers and my human side is slowing accustoming to new efforts. Thanks for the training_ »

« _Don’t mention it. I was a soldier, it was my job_ » she smiled. Aure smiled too and got up, her body in good health and refreshed. Then she noticed a lonely figure sat on the stairs a lot above her but Aure didn’t pay much attention to her, she was busy talking with Cass.

After a while Cass left the arena because she had to help a Peridot with some restorations yet Aure stood there, observing the training of other Gems (even if it was not necessary anymore). For the entire time Aure felt the eyes of someone on her and this made her uncomfortable. She turned and the lonely figure of before was gone.

"I swear I saw someone up there…" she thought and continued to watch the training.

About an hour later, Ruby joined Aure at the arena. In her hands, two cartons of juice.

« _Hello my dear Ruby_ ∼» Aure sang when she saw her. Ruby smiled at her and gave her one carton of juice. « _Thank you_ ∼»

Ruby sat next to her, drinking her juice in silence (as always with her). Aure did the same, enjoying Ruby's company.

« _Did you try the arena?_ » she asked. Ruby said no with her head, still looking at two Amethysts training. « _It's so cool even if I'm not a soldier. It's a good exercise, I guess_ »

« _Their position_ …» whispered Ruby.

« _Uh?_ »

« _Their position is wrong. They will get tired very soon_ …» she whispered again. Aure drank her juice and observed the Amethysts. As predicted by Ruby, the two Amethysts fell tired on the ground shortly after.

« _Woah Ruby! You were right!_ » Aure uttered surprised. Ruby nodded and finished her juice. When Aure finished hers too, both she and Ruby left the arena, traveling around the Mothership towards the bathrooms.

« _I'm going to take a bath, Ruby_ »

« _What's a bath?_ »

« _It's when you wash yourself in a shower or bath tub_ …» Aure tried to explain what a bath was to someone who didn’t need to wash, eat, drink or breath.

« _I see_ …» Ruby was still confused, maybe she was trying to imagine the scene. « _You'll need Blueberry then_ »

Aure sighed. « _I wish, Ruby. She cannot go out from the jails. Gliese is away with Pyrope and Roheline is always busy with Emerald_ »

She entered the bathroom (well, it was a room readjusted to be like a common bathroom), Ruby followed her in silence.

« _Thankfully Hübnerite made some more dresses for me_ …» she talked more to herself that to Ruby.

« _I'm going to find someone_ »

« _No, don’t worry Ruby. I can do it by myself_ »

Ruby nodded and left the bathroom, waiting for Aure outside. She filled the bath tub with hot water and put perfumed oils and soap. Then she entered the tub and finally her body could relax. Aure closed her eyes and was going to drift in a long nap when she sensed **again** a gaze on her.

She tried to ignore it and kept her eyes closed. But the sensation remained and it became more persistent. Then Aure opened her eyes but she didn’t see anything in from of her; with the corner of her eye, she saw a head that popped out from the tub.

« _Gaah!_ » Aure yelled a bit. A pair of tiny teal coloured eyes was looking straight at Aure, with curiosity and innocence somehow. Aure calmed down and looked back at her.

« _Ehm…hello?_ » Aure tried to cover as much as she could of her naked body. The eyes kept watching her closely and blinked twice. « _Do you need something?_ »

Then, the Gem stood on her feet and Aure was surprised: she was very short (almost as tall as Ruby) with light green / teal skin, a sort of aquamarine dress that looked like a Japanese kimono and pale blue hair that covered most of her face. Aure noticed her oval gem on her right shoulder.

« _What are you doing?_ » the Gem asked softly.

« _Ehm…I'm taking a bath_ …» Aure replied. "How did she get here, anyway?" she thought.

The Gem looked closer to the water and touched the lather with her tiny fingers.

« _What's your name?_ » asked Aure.

« _I'm just a Pearl_.» she observed the lather on her fingers. « _I saw you many times at the Arena…are you a warrior?_ »

« _Oh no, I'm not a soldier. I train to improve myself_ »

The Pearl stood in silence for a while and Aure noticed how the water started to become colder and the lather was vanishing.

« _The Ruby outside…is with you?_ » the Pearl asked.

« _Yes, she is my friend_ ∼» Aure replied and smiled. « _Do you want to meet her?_ » The Pearl gulped and blushed slightly then nodded quietly.

« _Very well_ ∼» Aure continued. « _Let me change and I will introduce her to you_ »

The Pearl moved away from the bath tub and Aure noticed that she was truly short for being a pearl. Then she finished washing her hair and body and grabbed the towel. The pearl looked away, Aure removed the cap and the tub emptied slowly from the water; she quickly dried herself with the towel and went closer to a chest of drawers and took some clothes.

Aure took a black jumper (with a hole for her Gem on the sacrum), a pair of white shorts and high black boots with a short heel. She wrapped her wet hair into a different towel and got dressed. The Pearl was watching carefully every single movement the human was doing and was confused about the benefit of "dressing".

« _Something the matter, Pearl?_ » Aure asked while brushing her hair in front of a mirror.

The tiny pearl didn’t reply and lowered her head. Aure smiled at her even if the pearl couldn’t see that.

« _Wait here a moment_ » Aure left the bathroom and opened the door, whispered something then came back in front of the mirror. When the pearl lifted her head she gasped.

« _Pearl, she is my beloved friend Ruby…Ruby, she is Pearl_ »

Both Ruby and the pearl stood in silence observing each other for a while. Then Ruby waved her hand and the pearl tilted her head confused.

« _It's a gesture of greeting on Earth_ » Ruby explained and few minutes later the pearl imitated her.

« _Can you help me with the hair, Ruby?_ » Aure asked and Ruby nodded. Then Aure sat on her knees on the ground in order for Ruby to reach her hair; the dark red Gem took Aure's hair in one hand and in a single precise movement she dried them with her fire powers. Ruby heard a soft "ooh" coming from the tiny pearl and she smiled proudly at herself.

« _Thank you Ruby_ ∼» Aure brushed again her dried hair to give them a direction. Ruby nodded still with her smug grin on her face.

The three of them left the bathroom behind and started to walk around the Mothership, Aure leading. Behind her, Ruby and Pearl were having a quiet almost subtle conversation, as if they didn’t want to disturb. During their walk, however, Aure’s thoughts went back to Spectrolite and Cordelia: she was so close to discover the truth but something was stopping her.

"What if someone didn’t want me to reveal the truth?" she asked to herself trying to hear an answer from Cordelia or Spectrolite in her head.

But nothing came.


	26. ★26

Aure came back at the Hot Springs, alone this time. The door was still old and broken thus she found many Peridots in front of it trying to fix it.

It was not excessively hot there, Aure was swinging on a hammock looking at the dark sky: black ceiling with many stars and blue / green polar lights as if they were swimming in that artificial sky. For a while Aure forgot that she was in the middle on space, far from Earth.

She was slowly falling asleep in that hammock thinking at Little Homeworld, at the Crystal Gems and at all her adventures with her friends.

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

This time was different: no black nor white rooms. But a sandy beach, the sound of the ocean calmed her somehow.

« _Strange_ …» Aure didn’t understand why everything changed so suddenly. She was so deeply in thought that she didn’t notice two figure sitting on the sand beside her.

« _We saw through your eyes from the beginning_ …»

« **You let us see the beauty of planet Earth, the people, their lives** …»

« _But if there's something both me and Spectrolite loved about Earth…is the ocean_ » Aure was not scared about their sudden appearance, she knew they were always with her. The sky was orange and the sun was setting; the ocean was calm and the waves arrived lazily on the foreshore. Few seagulls were resting on the sand not far from them and some tiny crab hid under the sand.

« _Why the ocean? Where are your two rooms?_ » Aure asked.

« _This is your dream, not ours_ »

« **This time** »

Aure turned to look at them and they were sitting on the beach: Cordelia was drawing something with a stick while Spectrolite was looking at her with an eyebrow raised. It was the first time that Aure could take a closer look to Spectrolite.

« **What?** »

Spectrolite had a navy curly bob cut, black tight corset with seamless shorts like Ruby and high yellow boots; her blue-green eyes were looking at her without emotions and her blue skin made contrast with the white sand; she was sitting with her legs crossed using her elbow to bear herself. She was tall even on the ground.

« _How tall are you?_ »

« **10' (3m), why?** »

« _You are really tall_ …»

« **I know, obvious-girl** »

Then Aure looked at Cordelia: she wasn’t drawing anymore with the stick, she was wearing that hospital green gown opened on the back; her knees were pressed against her chest and her brown hair were uncombed. Cordelia raised her gaze to Aure.

« _What?_ »

« _What are you doing?_ »

« _I saw a crab hiding in the sand here, next to me_ »

Spectrolite looked down at her curious about the "crab". « **What's a crab?** »

« _A sea animal with wide, flattened body and five pairs of legs, the front legs being the largest and having claws_.» explained Aure. Spectrolite made a strange face, maybe she was imaging a huge monster instead of a tiny creature who lived in the ocean.

« _I like this place…it's nicer than our rooms_ …»

« **Our rooms are the representation of our emotions and frames of mind** »

Aure sat between her and Cordelia, Spectrolite snorted because she was forced to move a bit to let Aure sit.

« **But I have to agree with the human…it's nice here** »

« _Is this…what "emotionally harmonious" means in a fusion?_ » 

« **Yeah** …»

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

Aure woke up fully restored. For once, she had a pleasant sleep. She stretched both arms and legs and climbed down from the hammock. Then an idea popped out from her head: Aure wanted to annoy Meragda for a while.

So she left the Hot Springs and walked straight towards the throne room. To her surprise, Pyrope was there as well. They were discussing about something important given that when Aure entered the throne room either of them noticed her.

« _We need to transfer a rescue team on Dilia K7L_.»

« _We don’t have enough soldiers, Pyrope_.»

« _Hello!_ » greeted Aure but she was ignored completely.

« _Yes but it's not the first time we receive this transmission_.» Pyrope pointed out while her pearl was creating a hologram with her Gem of the planet they were talking about.

« _Nevertheless there were not enough soldiers_ »

« _Me! Me! I want to go!_ »

In that moment Pyrope and Emerald turned their gaze towards Aure, not very happy to see her.

« _What were you saying?_ » asked Pyrope.

« _I want to help! I want to go and answer to that distress call!_ » finally **something to do**. The Mothership was truly boring even if it had a lot of interesting things.

« _Do you really believe we will send you in an unknown planet? With the risk of your escape? I don’t think so_ » Pyrope grinned widely.

« _Then send me with your team! My friends and your soldiers could easily get rid of the problem_ »

« _It's out of question. We don’t need your help, human_.»

« _Actually, Pyrope_ …» Meragda looked away embarrassed.

« _What now, Emerald?_ »

« _We dismissed many distress calls recently. If we don’t do something, the Diamonds will probably notice this_ …»

Pyrope sighed heavily letting herself lay on her throne. She massaged her temples with a frown.

« _Very well_ …» she said at the end. « _But you can bring only one of your friends. The rescue team will keep an eye on both of you. At the end of the mission you will come back here_ »

« _Yikes!_ » Aure cheered.

« _You will need a space suit down there_ …» Pyrope pointed out softly.

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

Aure's space suit was nothing special: a simple one-pieced white suit with many supports on shoulders, arms, legs, knees and torso; the helmet was black with a large visor.

« _This is one of our rescue teams: two Peridots, four Amethysts, a Demantoid, a pair of Topazes, you and…your…friend_ » Meragda introduced the rescue team to Aure and Lace and the Emerald was looking at Lace up and down with slight disgust.

« _I'm Lace Amethyst and this is my girl_ »

« _Hey there, I'm Aure!_ » she was excited, she couldn’t wait. They were in the hangars, few Red Beryls were preparing a space ship.

« _Peridot 2F3E 7XM, the command is yours for this mission. During the travel to Dilia K7L, please, instruct the others about the mission_ »

« _Yes, my Emerald!_ »

« _No"my thing" anymore, Peridot. That period of our history is over_ » then Meragda left the hangar.

After few minutes of silence, Peridot spoke again. « _Well, I'm your Captain for this mission. My name is Peridot 2F3E 7XM but you can call me just Captain Peridot_.» that Peridot had a wonderful pyramid-shaped yellow hair, pale green skin and olive green suit. From the front view, her Gem was not visible. It was obvious she was enjoying her role.

« _Let's enter the space ship then I'll give you the details_ » she continued.

★ **NEAR DILIA K7L, ON THE SPACE SHIP★**

Aure was fixing the black helmet of her space suit helped by the second Peridot: this one had a cube-shaped (like Ruby but less fluffy and puffed) pale yellow hair, light green skin and grass green suit. Her triangular Gem was placed on her left foot.

« _Thank you, Peridot_ »

« _Eh! No problem, human. Those suits were very simple to assemble, you know_ »

« _Really? Humans use them from few decades_ …»

« _Well, of course your specie is slow about technological development but at least you invented them. You are not so primitive, after all_ »

« _Ehm…uh…thanks?_ » Aure didn’t understand Peridots. At all.

Soon the space ship landed on the planet; just before the hold door opened, Aure activated her suit. A series of strange writings came in succession then everything was translated in English and she could understand what's going on.

The group left the space ship and took a close at their surroundings: pink sky, lime green ground, floating grey islands, red organic life and purple "water". It was like a painter spilled all his colours on that planet.

« _The distress call came from an abandoned base of Blue Diamond_ »

« _This was one of Blue Diamond's planet?_ » Aure asked surprised, her helmet modified her voice making it more metallic.

« _Yes, thousands of years ago_ » Captain Peridot replied.

« _What happened then?_ »

« _The life you see here is what remains of the original aspect of the planet. The other side of it has a forsaken Kindergarten…the native creatures ruined and destroyed the main base and the planet was abandoned. The signal comes from that base_ » Captain Peridot replied with a monotone voice while the long digits of her limb enhancers displayed a map of their area. The group started to walk towards the main base, a bit far from them but reachable on foot.

« _Hey girl. Thanks for letting me go with you in this mission_ » Lace spoke to Aure next to her.

« _I guessed you would love some…action after so much time_ »

« _Oh hell yeah if I love action, baby_ » Lace flexed her muscles and grinned widely. Aure smiled and chuckled softly. In her visor she could see different values but Aure didn’t understand most of them; she could only understand the high level of CO2 and the temperature, too low for a human being to survive.

During the stroll, the Topazes and the four Amethysts looked cautiously their surroundings, the Demantoid didn’t speak a word since the beginning of the mission and the two Peridots were studying through their displays. After hours of pure silence, a soft a "beep" sound could be heard but nobody seemed to notice.

« _Did you hear that?_ » asked Aure.

« _Hear what? The planet is almost deserted_ …» Captain Peridot replied.

« _It's a beep…an intermittent and far beep_.» the group stopped and stood in silence for a while.

«I can hear that too!» Demantoid spoke suddenly and shortly after the Topazes confirmed that too. Then they all followed that strange electronic sound and they arrived close to the Kindergarten.

« _Is that_ …»

« _The Rho Kindergarten. It was well built…however, the native organic life destroyed many Injectors_ »

« _What's that…building?_ »


	27. ★27

« _Is that_ …»

« _The Rho Kindergarten. It was well built…however, the native organic life destroyed many Injectors_ »

« _What's that…building?_ »

Between the rock formations of the Kindergarten, Aure noticed a strange structure close to the ground: it looked like a greenhouse with a clear round roof and metallic supports. The building was almost completely hidden with the lime-green colour of the ground.

« _It's an old depot_ » Captain Peridot replied and used the long fingers of the limb enhancers to visualize a map of the structure.

Aure was clearly confused: that clear structure barely touched the ground, it had no walls or doors. How could that be a depot?

« _The signal comes from there_ …» Captain Peridot pointed at the "building" with one of her light green fingers.

« _But…It's just a large clear slab_ …»

« _You see, human, this planet is particularly well known in the galaxy for its strong, sharp icy winds. Every once in a while these gusts would blow violently to the point that the structures built here would be irremediably damaged. That's why we built underground_ » the second Peridot explained with pride as if she built them by herself.

« _U-Underground?!_ » Aure was astonished. «Really?!»

« _That's the only reasonable solution_ »

« _Anyways, we need to go there. If the signal comes from a battery-powered device, it will disappear soon. Let's get moving_ » Captain Peridot commanded and everyone followed her.

Aure had a bad feeling about this.

**★★★**

That place was really huge from the inside, it was like a skyscraper of Empire City but upside-down. It was huge and spacious and Captain Peridot said that it **must be** spacious in order to be a depot. The group eventually split up: Lace, Aure and the two Topazes went in one direction, the others stood in the main computer room trying to turn on the electronic devices.

« _This is all messed-up_ » blabbered one of the Topaz. She was not wrong after all: the place was completely destroyed as if a terrible battle occurred there, many parts of the building collapsed and the lime-green ground was scattered on the floor. Aure noticed many strange broken machines and other mysterious instruments.

« _What's that?_ » Aure pointed at a particular tool: it looked like a lamp, with a source of light at the centre and two triangles on the top and on the bottom of it.

« _It's a Tri-phosoles. It's a Gem world visualizer and projector, it can show someone's thoughts_ » explained a Topaz.

« _Cool!_ » Lace replied. The group passed that section of the building and a Topaz received a call from Captain Peridot.

« _Topazes, we managed to turn on the main computer and it seemes that many local creatures were trapped here with other Gems. You have to rescue those Gems without executing any creature…_ _as Resplendent Spectrolite would have wanted_ »

Aure could listen to the conversation between the Topaz and Captain Peridot but could not hear the last part. The Topaz nodded and the call ended, then everyone summoned their weapons. As they walked deeply in the building (and underground), Aure could feel her heart hurting against her rib cage, the adrenaline made her sensible at every sound or shadow; she grasped hard on her long javelin pointing it at everything near her. Lace and the Topazes were almost relaxed instead.

The place became darker and darker to a point Aure could not see anything.

« _Can I turn on the light of my helmet? I cannot see in the dark_ »

« _No, you will alarm the creatures_ » a Topaz replied, they Gem were shining slightly in the dark. A mix of yellow and purple illuminated a bit the surroundings but it was not enough for Aure to see.

« _Take my hand, girl. I'll guide ya_ » Lace stretched her arm and Aure took her hand.

The group proceeded in silence trying to pick up the signal; suddenly, Lace stepped on something and it "cracked".

« _Ew! I feel something slimy under my feet_ …» Lace tried to clean her boots but other cracks could be heard in the room.

« _I need to see!_ » Aure uttered and turned on the two light of her helmet.

« _No! Stop!_ » one Topaz tried to stop her but it was too late. In front of them, a disgusting sight (at least for Aure): the floor was completely covered by lime-green dirt, moss and…

« _Those are…eggs_ …»

A frightful screech came from above their heads where a giant creature hung: it looked like a huge squid with a pyramid-shaped head and at least ten tentacles. Alongside with them, its entrails were covered by large, sharp claws and the floor below had large puddle of drool that trickled from its mouth.

« _Crap!_ » Lace summoned her massive and sharpened club, ready to fight. « _Girl, stay behind! If your suit get ruined, you'll die!_ » Aure nodded. Meanwhile, the two Topazes fused to create one giant Topaz and they started to fight against the squid.

"If they keep busy that thing, I could search for the Gem…" Aure thought to herself watching the fight behind a large (overturned) desk. Suddenly she felt something on her feet; she looked down and found one baby squid trying to bite her boot. She yelled in fright and the tiny thing fell back scared as well but it didn’t attack.

« _Oh…hello little squeeshy squid_ » Aure talked to the baby alien, her voice sounded so metallic through her helmet. The baby squid stepped up and walked over Aure. She noticed that it didn’t have any eye or nose: only a gelatinous head and tiny tentacles. « _That's your ma', right?_ »

The baby alien did a cute version of the screech she heard before from the giant creature. « _Don’t worry, little one. If you stay here you'll be fine_ » Aure didn’t know why she was talking to it given that it could not understand her. She took advantage of the chaos to sneak off the battlefield and enter a room. The place was dark as the rest of the building and Aure used the two lights of the helmet to see through the darkness.

« _Hello?! We received your distress call, we are here to rescue you! If you can hear me, please do something!_ » Aure yelled in the middle of the room but she didn’t receive any answer. Then her left arm changed colour, signalling an incoming call. She pressed the only coloured button on her suit and a holographic screen appeared.

« _Hello Captain_ »

« _Human! What's happening? The Topazes are not answering my calls_ » she sounded worried even though her voice told otherwise.

« _This floor was the nest of a creature and they are fighting against it. We believe the Gem is trapped here somewhere_ »

« _I see. Well, I guess you have to proceed with the mission. I can guide you through the building_ »

Aure nodded and Captain Peridot gave her the directions to find the source of the signal. The darkness made that place ten times bigger than it really was and Aure could feel the adrenaline in her blood again. Being alone in a dark place with a giant squid in the other room was not encouraging. During the walk, Captain Peridot started to talk no-stop about many topics: the construction of that building, her role as a Peridot, her new role in the Mothership and so on. Aure could see through the screen that the four Amethysts and the other Peridot were exasperated by her talk. Aure chuckled, Captain Peridot tried to scold the Amethysts but she ended up sounding cuter than angry.

Meantime, Aure sensed that the beep-sound was getting close and she entered a room as instructed by Captain Peridot.

« _Hello? We received your call, I'm from the rescue team_ …»

Aure felt a soft whispering not so far from her. She kept walking quietly and carefully towards the whispering. The closer she got and more the whispering sounded like a sob.

«Is _someone there?_ » Aure called again. Then, with her lights, she saw a Gem curled up in a corner with the knees against her chest. Aure's light made her gasp in terror and she pressed herself more against the corner of the room.

« _Oh ehm…Captain, I think I found her_ » Aure said to the screen then she looked at the Gem again.

« _Hello_ …» Aure tried to start a conversation but the other Gem was scarier than before. « _I'm Aure, I'm here with other Gems because we received a distress call from here. Did you do it?_ » she asked gently, kneeling down. Her two lights on the helmet blinded the shaking Gem and she lowered their intensity. Despite the (almost) total darkness, Aure could see clearly the scary face of the orange-red skinned Gem: her four eyes were scanning Aure frenetically, maybe in search of weapons and her body was shaking like a leaf.

The Gem, not seeing any danger from her, nodded quietly. Aure sighed in relief.

« _Good, me and my friends are here to save you. Are you alright? Hurt somewhere?_ » she asked with concern. The Gem said no with her head, she seemed a bit more relaxed. Then, Aure's arm lighted up again, another incoming call.

« _Human! You found the Gem, I see. Good, now recall the others and come back to the entrance. We will wait for you there. And don’t play a dirty trick on me, human_ » and the call ended.

« _Hu-human?_ » the unknown Gem said softly. « _Are you…a human?_ »

« _It's a long story but yes, I'm –mostly- a human with a Gem stuck in my lower back_.»

The orange-red skin toned Gem tilted the head in confusion but didn’t ask further. « _I'm…I'm Clinohumite_ »

« _Nice to meet you_ » Aure smiled and got up from her kneeling position. « _Are you ready to go?_ »

Clinohumite nodded and got up as well; surprisingly, she was much taller than Aure and she noticed she had two Gems: one on her chest and the other on the thigh.

« _Oh! You are a fusion!_ » Aure said with enthusiasm. She loved seeing new fusions.

Clinohumite gulped and felt suddenly uneasy. « _Is…is it a problem? I…I can unfuse, if it bothers you_ »

« _Uh? What? Of course not! Why should it be a problem?_ » Aure was looking at her as if she was in front of the most beautiful thing in the galaxy.

« _I-It is not?_ »

« _At all! I'm just admiring you_.»

Clinohumite blushed a bit and her red eyes closed in delight; her second pair of arms hugged herself on the waist and the other two arms wanted to cover her face. « _T-Thank you, you are very kind_ »

The two of them started to walk back to the room where Lace and the Topazes were still fighting (Aure could hear their weapons hitting against other metal) but before they could reach that room Aure saw something with the corner of her eye. She turned slowly the head and saw a puddle of drool on the wall and on the floor. Another squid like creature was on the ceiling, right above them.

« _Clinohumite, please…walk slowly towards the exit…and do not look above you_.»

« _Uh?_ » the fusion didn’t understand but she did as told. They kept walking for a while, wanting to get as far as possible from that room.

« _Strange_ …» Aure said to herself.

« _What's strange?_ »

« _The creature didn’t attack us_ …»

« _You're right!_ »

After a while they reached the room where Lace and the Topazes were still fighting: the squid alien was using its tentacles to protect the eggs on the ground and at the same time it was fighting both Lace and the Topazes.

« _Could you go to the exit without me? The rest of my team is there waiting for you_ »

Climohumite nodded and walked away towards the exit, Aure stood there hidden behind a collapsed pillar. She watched as the battle went on without a true winner and she started to think.

"If that creature acts like that it must be a reason…the monster I saw before didn’t attack me and Climohumite a while ago…"

Then Aure decided something: she would go back where she found Climohumite.

**★★★**

Lace started to feel tired, that creature was a tough one. Its tentacles attacked her from every direction and the Topaz fusion had problems dealing with it too. In a moment of calm, Lace scanned the room searching for Aure but she didn’t find her anywhere.

"Damn girl, where are ya?" she thought as the monster started to attack her again. The Topaz fusion was visibly tired and so was Lace. She could not resist for much longer.

« _Topaz, we need to retreat! We cannot beat it!_ »

« _We have a mission! Orders are to find the source of the emergency signal!_ » uttered the big yellow fusion.

« _I don’t want it to be **our** emergency signal!_» Lace avoided one sharpen tentacle and hit the alien with her giant club. However, the monster didn’t show signs of slowing down. On the contrary, the more they attacked it, theangrier it became.

Suddenly, from a very dark hallway, Lace could see with the corner of her eye Aure's white space suit. She was holding something in her hands.

« _I've found it!_ » she yelled from her spot next to a door. Everyone (including the alien) turned their gaze towards her: she was holding a colourful and big egg. The monster made another dreadful screech and used the tentacles to come closer to Aure. Lace noticed this and ran over her, dropping her club in the process.

« _Aure, step back!_ » Lace yelled and jumped on her, before the monster could reach her.

The room was dark and the alien was screaming at the door, trying to grab her with its tentacles. She groaned as she massaged her temples; when her sight adjusted to the darkness of the room, she saw the egg in her hands.

« _An egg?_ »

« _Yes! Maybe the alien is mad because she lost one of her eggs!_ »

« _Really?_ » she was talking to herself but at the same time she wasn’t.

« _Aure!_ »

« _Lace!_ »

« _We fused!_ »

She twirled once feeling herself: a pair of hands were holding the egg while the second pair hugged herself; she felt strong, long soft hair brushed against her back and one eye was covered by a lock.

But it was not the time for that: we had an alien to calm down.

« _Let's take back this egg to its nest_ »

Meanwhile, the alien was busy with the Topazes and they were very tired judging by their bruises. She left the dark room and with one hand she whistled, catching the attention of both the alien and the Topazes.

« _Hey big girl, are you looking for this?_ » the alien emitted another terrible screech but initially it didn’t attack. So she proceeded towards the nest (never broking the gaze with the squid-alien) and put the egg in its right place. Then the alien ignored completely the Topazes and came back to its nest, covering it with the lime-green ground scattered on the floor. It stood there, near the nest, watching carefully at everyone.

« _See? No need to be tough, girl_ »

« _Who are you?_ » the Topaz fusion asked. « _Where are the human and that Amethyst?_ »

« _They are right in front of you, baby. Aura Amethyst at your service_ ∼»

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

« _Great, that Amethyst and the half human fused together…well, at least we completed the mission_ » the squad of Captain Peridot was now reunited in the spaceship, going back to the Mothership.

« _Don’t be a pouter, Captain_ ∼» Aura Amethyst called from her comfy seat, a pair of hands behind her head and the other pair on her lap.

« _If Major General Emerald or General Pyrope knew about this_ …» Captain Peridot hissed while piloting the ship.

« _Let them know…for what I care_ ∼» Aura Amethyst replied. Captain Peridot hurled a strange glare at her, almost shocked and scared. The other Peridot, with the square-shaped hair, looked at her with the same worry. Aura Amethyst opened her eyes, sensing their gaze on her. « _I don’t care what Pyrope or Emerald think about me. Nobody has the right to decide about my life, only me_ »

« _You are brave_ …» the square Peridot said.

«… _or very stupid_ » the Captain continued. « _But I admit…you're right. You know, Pyrope and Emerald are not used to Era 3 yet. The Gems who decided to stay at the Mothership did it for Spectrolite, not for them_ »

« _Most of the Gems you met on the Mothership, human, were saved by Spectrolite like we did today. Even after Steven Universe's speech, they all stayed loyal to her. Pyrope and Emerald had no powers inside the Mothership, they supervise Olliecury. That's it_ » the square Peridot explained.

« _Efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing. Pyrope and Emerald are efficient_ »

« _That's what a good leader sounds like, Captain_ ∼»


	28. ★28

« _Efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing. Pyrope and Emerald are efficient_.»

« _That's what a good leader sounds like, Captain_ ∼»

Captain Peridot blushed a bit and continued to pilot the spaceship until she packed it in the hangar.

« _Emerald is waiting outside_ …» Demantoid said softly while looking through the glass of the spaceship. She was as tall as a Peridot without her limb enhancers and her fluffy curly hair looked like a big green bush.

« _I'm going first_ » Aura Amethyst approached the main hold door, waiting for it to open widely. White smoke covered partially her figure as she climbed down from the spaceship. Emerald believed it was one of the Amethysts so she didn’t even look up at her.

« _I guess your mission was a success, did you find something?_ »

« _I'm up here, baby_ » Aura Amethyst chucked. She could not see it but Meragda's eyes were narrow like a lock and she raised fast her head. She pulled back, looking at her in horror: in front of her a Gem taller than an Amethyst, pale purple skin and fluffy long, almost pale purple hair with pink locks (a single yellow coloured tress covered her left eye); she was wearing a salmon coloured one-piece swim suit with white gym shoes; under the swim suit a black tight suit covered her thighs and arms up to the elbow; the body had the particular discolouration of Lace's skin and on her head two small spikes popped out from her soft hair.

Meragda froze for a moment: a fusion with **her**? Unacceptable! She was boiling from rage to the point that her skin changed colour.

« _Before you start to fuss at me, girl, I have to tell you a couple of things. First, I have to highlight your non-existing role in my life: if I'm happy like this, you're nobody to order me otherwise. Second…ya better remember we are in Era 3: everyone is allowed to do and be whatever they want._ » a calm and soft voice was suddenly replaced by a lower one. Meragda was astonished by that presence and was staring straight at her green-blue eye; soon she looked away and noticed that everyone in the hangar was watching her: from the Red Beryls to other Peridots, every Gem in that hangar was looking at her with a strange gaze. As if they were calculating her reaction at that reproach.

Meragda cleared her throat and regained her composure. « _Very well, your mission was a success indeed. Now it comes the boring part: would you write down a detailed report about the mission?_ » she asked formally. Meragda looked at Aura Amethyst without a specific feeling in her eyes, just a neutral face.

« _Of course, baby. I'll consign it to you **personally**_ ∼» Aura Amethyst winked at her. Meragda seemed offended and cleared again her throat.

« _Good. Now Peridot, would you take care of_ …?»

« _I'm Clinohumite_ …»

« _Right, would you take care of Clinohumite?_ » Meragda asked but she felt the pressure of everyone's gaze on her shoulders. «… _if you want to_ …» she was forced to add at the end. 

« _Yes, I'll do it_ » Captain Peridot replied and went with Clinohumite towards the elevators.

« _See ya later, girl_ » Aura Amethyst went towards the elevators too and she clicked a random button. The door closed and the elevators started to go down. After a while, she unfused.

« _Oh my! Girl, you were so mean with her!_ » Lace was laughing **hard**.

« _Come on, Lace. She deserved it! Did you see her look on her face? It was pure **disgust**! Gah!_» Aure was angry at Emerald but chucked hearing Lace's laugh.

« _We make a great team, girl_ »

« _Of course we do, Lace. Any doubts?_ » the two started to laugh again hand in hand.

**★★★**

« **My beloved pearl, if anything happens…please, stay with me. Would you?** » Spectrolite seemed quite sad…as someone who gave up. She took Blueberry's hands in hers.

Blueberry was astonished, shocked and afflicted. « _Anything for you, my Spectrolite_ » she smiled at her, with a slight blush on her cheeks while looking at her hands.

« **If the Sapphire was telling the truth, we don’t have much time left** » Spectrolite released Blueberry's hands and summoned something from her Gem behind her back. « **I chose this as prison…I asked a Bismuth to do it for me** » Spectrolite showed a thin and delicate crown made with a special silver metal; at its centre, an oval cavity was empty without a gem in it.

« **In those thousands of years, I took many prisoners and shattered many innocent Gems…now I will be a prisoner myself** » Spectrolite spoke as she stared at the crown in her hands; she kneeled down, the silver armour made a metallic sound when it touched the ground. « **This time…forever** »

The old valorous Field marshal Spectrolite was gone long before that final battle at the Strawberry Fields, Blueberry knew that but she didn’t mind. In her eyes, she would remain the same brave and kind Gem who saved in secret a lot of Gems risking her own life. However, deep down, Blueberry had this thorny, terrible feelings inside her: sorrow, fear, loneliness and emptiness. All together in one heavy, unbearable emotion. She wanted to cry, begging her to stay…to abandon the Mothership and her fleet to live in peace somewhere. Just the two of them. But she knew it was impossible, a ridiculous dream.

Blueberry looked at the crown: it was simple yet a bit large for a human head. Then with the same sadness, she looked at Spectrolite.

« **From now on, Saiph…you can consider yourself free. No more orders, no more owners…just you and your identity** »

« _My Spectrolite…please…let's think about this. There must be another solution_ …» she tried once last time to persuade her.

« **I thought about this many times, Saiph. I already made a decision** » Blueberry looked away from her, she could not hold up anymore.

« **Now, let's end this** » Spectrolite summoned her green javelin.

Suddenly the scene changed and the black room appeared again: it was terribly damaged, most of the floor is missing and the walls had holes here and there. Spectrolite was in the same exact position of the dream, kneeled down on the floor, her back curved towards the black tiles.

« _You poofed yourself_ …»

Spectrolite didn’t move, her short curly navy hair hid her face perfectly. Aure could hear another piece of the floor broke.

« **I wanted to get rid of the monster inside me** …»

After another long pause, Aure spoke again. « _So are we all…_ »

Spectrolite raised slowly the head and turned towards Aure: her green-blue eyes were puffy and red because of the tears and her cheeks were all wet.

« **What?** »

« _Light and darkness live in everyone. Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light…that's why people remember you for the positive things you did. As I said before, I used your Gem, I know its potential. In your Mothership, Gems are still loyal to you and your ideals…they use you as a model. So…you were not this big, despicable monster after all_ »

Spectrolite was looking at her in disbelief, hot tears cut through her cheeks like rivers. This human… **understands her**? She stared at her with wide eyes, observing her. Then she lowered again her gaze and got up, her 10' (3m) towering Aure. The silver armour was gone, she was wearing her usual outfit (the black corset and high yellow boots); gentle yet sad features on her face and the muscular blue skinned body stood in front of Aure. Spectrolite acted embarrassed as if she was ashamed of something.

« **I…I have to think about it…about what you said before** »

Aure nodded then the room disappeared and she woke up.

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

« _My stars, the head_ …» Aure woke up with a painful headache. She was back in her cell, comfier than before thanks to Desert Rose (well, she only added a large pillow to rest and a sort of nightstand). Aure could hear Ruby's soft whispering and Blueberry's sobs; next to her cell, Lace was snoring loudly. She got up and went close to the yellow force field that closed her cell and tried to look in the hallway. She saw Desert Rose guarding her cell and they exchanged a nod.

Luckily, in those months (actually Aure thought they were months because it passed much time since their imprisonment) she met so many Gems and she was in perfect harmony with everyone. However, few of them were still following Pyrope and Meragda's orders and this was creating a tense atmosphere. After Aura Amethyst's speech in the hangar, everyone brought Pyrope and Meragda's authority into question; Gems started to listen to Aure instead (even though she not only said it was not necessary but she didn’t like it because this was making Pyrope and Meragda angry).

« _Hey there, girl, did you sleep well?_ » Desert Rose stopped Aure's thoughts.

« _Yeah, those are the comfiest pillows I even slept on, Desert Rose_ »

« _Eheh, no prob!_ » meanwhile, she deactivated the yellow field of Aure's cell and she got out. Desert Rose's fluffy pale brown hair were tickling her face and Aure chuckled. « _Any plans for today, Aure?_ »

« _Well…I wanted to talk with the Sapphires. The air here is quite tense and I think Pyrope and Meragda will not tolerate my presence for much longer_. _I want their opinions_ »

« _Maybe they could give you some good advice. Can I come with you?_ »

« _Yeah sure_ »

★ **MEANWHILE** ★

« _I knew it!_ » Pyrope was throwing things on the floor and breaking stuff. « _I knew we shouldn’t trust her! What a waste of time!_ » she was in the throw of a strong rage. She was in her room with Emerald and their respective pearls in a corner of the chamber.

« _What do you suggest to do? We have everyone's eyes on us…every wrong move could cause bad consequences_ » Meragda pointed out staying far from Pyrope's line of fire. She was scared of her pink-reddish superior in that moment.

« _I'm aware of that…even if we execute them, everyone in this damn spaceship would rise up against us_ »

Pyrope's pearl gasped quietly: she never heard Pyrope cursing; she always had a perfect and aristocratic attitude, always cheerful yet snobbish (as every Pyrope like her). But this time she was truly swearing, Gliese was truly surprised. 

« _I know_ …» she tsk-tsked and sat down to her fancy chair. The situation was critical from their point of view and every move was risky: they would lose their authority, their powers. However, Pyrope seemed the only one worried about her status because Meragda never really cared about it; she was the lowest member of the triad and the one with less power than the others and her presence was never taken in consideration more than necessary.

The Emerald looked down, unsure what to do. She knew Pyrope had something in her mind and that she would do anything to reach her goals.

« _I'll take care of if personally_ » she said though. Then she got up and mentioned to her pearl to follow her. Meragda and Roheline, her pearl, stayed there alone and scared.


	29. ★29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: the Bismuth in this chapter is not the same Bismuth of the main series of Steven Universe

The Emerald looked down, unsure what to do. She knew Pyrope had something in her mind and that she would do anything to reach her goals.

« _I'll take care of it personally_ » she said though. Then she got up and mentioned to her pearl to follow her. Meragda and Roheline, her pearl, stayed there alone and scared.

**★★★**

A couple of days passed since the little encounter between Meragda and Pyrope and she acted as if nothing happened, like she always did with her. It was difficult for both of them to find Gems under their control and the situation was slowly getting out of their hands. Meragda knew that in Pyrope's mind a dangerous idea was forming judging by the constant grin on her face.

In those two days Meragda noticed how frequently Pyrope went to visit the only Bismuth in the Mothership but she didn’t know the reason. She tried to ask Gliese about it but even she didn’t know anything.

Emerald was in the main throne room, as usual, with her pearl, Pyrope and Gliese. A new material was discovered on Olliecury and they needed more Peridot to study it; Pyrope was talking to Hessonite about it, her Hessonite to be precise. After the call, the holographic screen turned off and Pyrope sighed, a soft, delicate puff followed by a tiny chuckle. Sometimes Pyrope would act like a human teenager after a call with their crush. Meragda looked secretly at Gliese and she shrugged. After a while Pyrope got up from her throne, fixed her dress and talked to her pearl.

« _Pearl, I'm going to visit Bismuth. Stay here and keep an eye about that thing on Olliecury while I'm away_ »

« _Very well, my Pyrope_ » she replied lowering slightly her head. When Pyrope left the throne room the three sighed in relief.

« _What's about her now?_ » asked Roheline the green pearl.

« _I don’t know and I don’t like it_ »

« _My Emerald, may I ask a favour?_ » Meragda turned her gaze to her green pearl.

« _What is it?_ »

« _Can I go to Earth? I have an important job to do_ …»

★ **MEANWHILE** ★

Unfortunately, the forge was on Olliecury and not on the Mothership, meaning that Pyrope had to use a spaceship to go there. Her walk towards the hangars was fast and agitated: she **couldn’t wait** to accomplish her goal and Bismuth was the key. Well, Bismuth's creation was the key actually.

Pyrope rushed at the hangars and "asked" to a Peridot to go with her in the main base on Olliecury. An annoyed Peridot accepted and piloted the yellow spaceship towards the planet. She landed softly and Pyrope left her without thanking her. During her walk, she wondered if the insolent behaviour of the half-garbage Gem arrived here on Olliecury. Soon Pyrope would find the answer because everyone exchanged a strange, hateful gaze at her when she walked through the hallways. However, she couldn’t care less because she was a high-ranked Gem (despite the beginning of Era 3 her status didn’t change at all from her point of view) and nobody must dare to speak badly of her.

After a while she arrived at the forge where a single Bismuth worked there. She built mostly weapons, decorations or upgrades for weapons. The forge was a high, giant room located almost at the centre of the planet; it used the mantle of the planet to forge them and that place was really hot and harsh for everyone except for Bismuth.

« _Bismuth_ …» Pyrope called her. The rainbow dreadlocks of the bulky Gem moved smoothly when she turned her head towards the entrance of the forge. Her gaze became hard like the metal she was modelling in that moment.

« _General Pyrope, welcome_ » Bismuth didn’t know how to properly greet her because the forge was not a crowded place and she met her superiors rarely. As a consequence, Bismuth was a little tense every time she saw Pyrope.

« _As planned, I'm here_ …»

« _Yes, your order is almost completed, General. Just making the final adjustments_ » she took something from a basin filled with a strange liquid; then she shapeshifted one hand into a hammer and started to hit the metallic object a couple of times. Later, she gave it to Pyrope.

« _The upgrade of your hand fan is completed, General_ »

Pyrope took her pink hand fan from Bismuth's big hand and analysed it: externally, it could look like a normal hand fan but it was made entirely with a special alloy that can crack badly a Gem without efforts.

« _Excellent work, Bismuth. I knew I could trust you_ » she admired her new weapon.

« _Anytime, General_ …»

« _Very well, now if you excuse me, I have to go back to the Mothership as soon as possible_ »

« _Oh yes, goodbye General_ »

Then Pyrope left without saying anything else. Meanwhile Bismuth was suspicious about her: why should she need an upgrade to her personal weapon? There must be a good **dangerous** reason. She left the forge too in order to speak with one old and well-informed friend of hers: Hematite.

**★★★**

« _Spectrolite refuses to talk to me_ …»

« _She said she has to think_ »

« _Really? Oh_ …» Cordelia thought for a moment. « _You truly changed her_ »

« _I did?_ » Aure gulped with surprise.

The white room was in perfect conditions: no crack, no holes, no imperfections. That meant Cordelia had strong, balanced emotions? Aure didn’t know.

« _Of course you did. Before her pearl went to release us, I spent long time with Spectrolite despite you were asleep in the laboratory. She always was so full of hate that the only thing she could think about was how to poof herself once again. But then…you woke up and your adventure started. Initially we were both sceptical about you but after a while…she changed her mind_ »

« _What about you? Did you change your mind?_ »

« _Me?_ » Aure noticed that one white tile of the room cracked slightly but in a matter of seconds it became intact again.

"Uh? Is she… **pretending**?" Aure thought by herself. Her gaze moved again on Cordelia, her back faced Aure. Cordelia was wearing the green hospital gown and Aure **must not** look down because, you know, it was opened on the back.

« _Why you ask?_ »

« _Well…we were in this together. Me, you and Spectrolite_ …»

« _It doesn’t matter right now how I feel_ » Cordelia turned to look at Aure, her eyes emotionless as always. They looked at her up and down as if they were studying her. Then she lowered her gaze to the floor.

« _It matters to me actually_ »

Cordelia was going to raise again her head when Aure was suddenly woke up.

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

« _Please my Aure, wake up!_ » someone was shaking a sleepy Aure quiet violently. She woke up suddenly, her sight a bit foggy because of the sleep.

When her gaze became normal, Aure saw White Sapphire next to her inside the cell. Her white hair was messy, one eye was looking straight at her with concern and fear.

« _W-White Sapphire?_ » Aure sat on the ground then got up. « _What's up?_ »

« _It's about Pyrope…and your pearl! Please, come!_ » White Sapphire took Aure's hand and rushed out of cell at great speed. Aure was literally tossed from side to side in the hallways. Then White Sapphire stopped and Aure almost tripped on her.

Aure looked up and she turned pale: in front of her there was Pyrope with her fancy hand fan and a satisfied grin on her face, Blueberry out of her cell, on the ground glitching and complaining.

« ** _Pyrope!_** »

« _Oh my, you're here too. Such a disgrace_ …» she fanned herself with her weapon. « _I imagined a Sapphire would warn you about this_.»

« _M-M-My Aure…please, run…run away_ …» Blueberry whispered between the glitches, she had one hand on her pearl in the chest.

« ** _What did you do to her?!_** » Aure yelled loudly, her voice resounded in the jail. She clenched her fists in anger and White Sapphire put one gloved hand on Aure's arm to calm her down.

« _Can't you see?_ » Pyrope gestured with her hand fan the glitched Blueberry.

« _She cracked her_ …» replied White Sapphire. Aure could feel her face becoming redder and redder with anger as time passed. Pyrope didn’t seem worried about the situation even when an alarm rang and few Amethysts and Jaspers appeared in the jails.

« _The pearl! It's cracked!_ » Aure heard Desert Rose utter in disbelief behind her.

« _We need to heal her!_ » Aure heard Cass behind her too.

Pyrope had still her hateful grin on her **horrible** face and Aure could not look away from her. **She wanted to hit her so badly**. Again, White Sapphire put one hand on her arm, calming Aure down a bit.

« _Don’t play dirty like her…you are better than this_ »

She remembered this feeling: she felt the same when she saw Meragda for the first time on Earth, when she accused Blueberry of being a war criminal and they were almost going to fight each other. Aure felt horrible after that day, she was forced to use all her powers to calm herself from that burst of anger. She was blinded by fury because someone "hit" her in one most delicate moment of her life, when she felt confused, alone and scared. But this time, she was not alone, confused or scared anymore. She had trusty friends around her.

Aure nodded. « _You're right_ …»

Pyrope bent over with laughter. « _Silly, stupid human…do you really think some kind words could resolve your problems? Don’t delude yourself like that_ »

« _Enough with this Pyrope! You and Emerald do not command here anymore!_ » Cass uttered from her spot next the door.

« _Pay you respects to me, Jasper! I'm much more…hm, what's the word…valuable than you_ »

Cass rushed towards Pyrope with her orange drill ready to fight her but Pyrope avoided skilfully that meagre attack.

« _Is that all? You were the excellence of Blue Diamond's soldiers? What a waste_ …»

After that, all the Amethysts and Jaspers started to attack her simultaneously but Pyrope was a skilled soldier, not by chance she was a General. Aure soon understood that was an attempt to distract her from Blueberry.

« _We need to heal her, quickly_ » Aure rushed over Blueberry, picking her up. Aure looked at her Gem and it was almost broken in half and she gasped. Warm tears blinded her sight and later they poured her face.

Blueberry noticed Aure's tears and tried to wipe them away but she was too weak to raise her hand; her glitches grew and she barely could keep her eyes opened.

« _We need the Diamond's auras_ …» White Sapphire guided Aure through the Mothership, leaving Pyrope with the Amethysts and Jaspers.

Aure, Blueberry and White Sapphire were rushing fast towards Aure's bathroom. They changed direction when they saw Roheline, Meragda's pearl, blocking the road to them.

« _Roheline, we don’t have time for this!_ »

« _I know! But you'll need this!_ » she showed to the a clear bottle with a pink liquid inside.

« _R-R-Rose…Quartz…tears_ …» Blueberry whispered weakly.

Roheline was going to rush towards them but suddenly a loud crash interrupted everyone: Pyrope broke the wall with her powerful fists and turned up between Aure and Roheline. Pyrope had an evil smirk on her face and gazed to Roheline.

« _Pearl, give me that bottle_ …»

Roheline clung to the bottle and started to shake in fear. Then Pyrope spoke again: « _Pearl…it's an order. Give me that bottle_ » the General extended one hand to grab the pink bottle.

Suddenly something hit her wrist and Pyrope pulled back her hand. Pyrope hissed and massaged her wrist.

« _Who dared-?!_ »

« _I'm sorry, my Pyrope but this…this is too much!_ »

« _Gliese!_ »

The pink-reddish pearl, Pyrope's one, caught her weapon with a skilful jump: it was a big pair of scissors. Gliese divided the two blades obtaining two different swords. She stood in front of Roheline.

« _Oh my Pearl, I thought you would understand me…but I was wrong_ » said Pyrope with sadness and summoned again her hand fan. « _Believe me if I say I'm sorry… **for your shattering!**_ » Pyrope rushed towards her, Gliese ready to counterattack. Their metallic weapons clinked many times in a furious battle; Pyrope, being a General, won against Gliese, who fell on the ground with wounds everywhere.

« _Sorry not sorry, Pearl_ » Pyrope raised her hand fan aiming at Gliese's Gem but, once again, something hard hit her wrist; the hand fan flew somewhere.

« _Pyrope, enough!_ » Pyrope heard a familiar voice, someone she didn’t want to be involved in this.

« _Hessonite_ …»

On the other side of the hallway stood Meragda, with her green axe, and Hessonite with a long and sharp katana.

« _What are doing here?! Go back to Olliecury!_ »

« _I won't General, I'm sorry_ »

Meanwhile Roheline gave the pink bottle to Aure and picked Gliese up from her spot on the floor and all together ran towards Aure's bathroom using a different hallway. Hessonite and Meragda would keep Pyrope busy while they reached the bathroom to heal Blueberry.

« _Don’t make me hit you, Hessonite_ … _remember I'm above you_ »

« _I don’t care if you're above or under me, Pyrope! Nobody cares right now!_ »

« _I care! I care about it every time, Hessonite!_ » Pyrope summoned once again her weapon and rushed towards her, starting a battle. A fight where Pyrope avoided to hit her on purpose, Meragda could see it clearly. Hessonite did the same, not wanting to hurt the General.

« ** _Your status is more important than us?! More important of what Spectrolite built in those eons? More important_** …» Hessonite paused trying to hold back her tears. «… _than me?_ »

Pyrope suddenly stopped: she was kneeled on the floor, her hand fans were blocking an attack from Hessonite right on the head. Hessonite, on the other hand, was above the General, her katana few centimetres from her pink fluffy hair. She looked down at Pyrope through her yellow glasses, she was shaking but not because of the battle. Pyrope saw her brown eyes being blurred by tears; when Hessonite started to cry, few tears fell on Pyrope's cheeks and her gaze was even more astonished than before.

« _Hessonite_ …» Pyrope whispered.

All of a sudden, Pyrope disarmed Hessonite with a quick movement, the orange katana flew away clinking on the crystal clear floor. Hessonite fell on the ground and Pyrope stood up; she rushed fast towards her then raised her pink hand fan. Abruptly, Pyrope stopped right before she could hit Hessonite; she let her weapon fall on the floor, her eyes became dull in one second.

« _Nothing is more important than you_ …» Pyrope whispered before poofing, her rectangular Gem fell next to Hessonite. She didn’t have the time to react but she saw Meragda with her green axe where once stood Pyrope.

★ **MEANWHILE** ★

Aure finally arrived to her bathroom, the run seemed longer than ever. White Sapphire rushed towards the bath tub and opened faucet. A big flow of water filled up the bath tub, then White Sapphire added the pink liquid and the water started to shine in a pale pink shade.

Roheline stood behind Aure with Gliese on her arms, unsure of doing something or not.

« _Don’t worry, everything will be fine_ » Gliese whispered, feeling a bit better now.

However, Aure could not hear her, too busy thinking about Blueberry. Thousands of thoughts and questions span inside Aure's head like a vortex. Blueberry was glitching badly in her arms, her body started to do strange things.

The bath tub was so filled with water that it overflowed on the ground. Aure's shoes were wet but she couldn’t care less in that moment.

« _It'll be fine, Blueberry_ …» Aure said it more to convince herself than the pearl. She didn’t even know if Blueberry could hear her.

She slowly dived her in the bath tub, more water overflowed from it. Aure didn’t know what to do next, maybe she had to wait until Blueberry was fully healed. She kneeled down on the ground, now she was completely wet. Aure felt a hand on her shoulder and recognised White Sapphire's glove; her presence gave a sense of safety and protection, maybe she could ask her about Blueberry.

She was going to say something when a bright light came from the bath tub and the water splashed everywhere. Aure and White Sapphire fell back against the wall next to Roheline and Gliese (still in her arms). The room was bright for few minutes then it all came back to normal. From the bath tub Blueberry re-emerged as if she was drowning.

« _Blueberry!_ » Aure uttered happy and rushed towards her, kneeling on the floor again and hugging her. Ignoring the water on her clothes, she was crying like a baby. « _I'm so so happy! You can't imagine how scared I was of losing you! You were so badly damaged, I didn’t know what to do! You are alright, aren’t you?_ » Aure talked no-stop, looking carefully in search of any sign of damage especially on her Gem.

Blueberry didn’t say anything, she kept staring at Aure surprised: she stared at her tears, at her face twisted by the sadness, at her soaked clothes. Then she couldn’t hold back anymore: she started to cry as well and hugged tightly Aure.

Behind them, White Sapphire sighed in relief, Roheline and Gliese smiled happily at them. Suddenly, the door smashed open revealing Lace Amethyst and Ruby.

« _Girl! We heard what happened! How are y_ -» Lace was going to ask how was Aure but she stopped mid-sentence because of the scene in front of her. The thing that caught Lace's attention was Blueberry tears that were pouring and drenching Aure's clothes and floor. « _Did she cry so much?! She flooded the entire bathroom!_ »

White Sapphire laughed and so did Roheline, Aure and even Blueberry. She wiped off her tears and came out from the bath tub. Aure gasped when she noticed Blueberry changed her clothes.

« _New clothes_!» now Blueberry wore a sort of dark blue jacket with two large lapels, a big baby blue band on her waist, tight royal blue shorts and ballerina shoes.

« _I thought I could change my appearance a bit_ …» she scratched her nape in embarrassment.

« _I hate interrupting those moments_ …» someone from behind Lace and Ruby spoke. The two Gems stepped aside and Meragda stood next to the door. Aure and Blueberry gasped but White Sapphire went forward.

« _What now?_ » she was ready to hit her with her icy powers.

« _We have a matter to settle…with **her**_ » Meragda showed to them a rectangular pink-reddish Gem.


	30. ★30

« _What now?_ » she was ready to hit her with her icy powers.

« _We have a matter to settle…with **her**_ » Meragda showed to them a rectangular pink-reddish Gem.

Aure came closer to her and took Pyrope's Gem in her hands: it was warm and smooth to the touch, it glimmered under the light and it wasn’t much heavy.

« _How_ -»

« _I hit her with my axe_ …»

Aure saw Hessonite behind the Emerald and when she mentioned her axe, Hessonite looked away. Aure noticed she had her pink hand fan in one hand.

« _There's one thing we can do for her_ » pointed out Lace.

« _And what would that be?_ » asked Aure still staring at the rectangular Gem.

« ** _You know very well_** »

Shattering. Hessonite gulped slightly but didn’t say anything; Ruby and Blueberry jumped a little too considering with how much ease Lace proposed that "solution".

Aure looked at Lace for one second then her gaze turned back on Pyrope's Gem. Without thinking she left the bathroom spreading water in the hallways, everyone followed her; they were talking about the shattering, about how it was the best thing to do and about to simply bubble her somewhere.

They ended their walk in the throne room where the three chairs were empty: the green one was a perfect square seatback and its shades ranged from light green to deep dark green; the pink-red one had wonderful pink and red shades and the seatback reminded the shining fire's flames; then the eldest and dustiest one, in a stunning cobalt blue colour with a sharpened seatback and many geometrical etchings on it. Aure went up steps towards Spectrolite's old throne and sat down on the steps.

Aure heard a loud thud and she raised the head: she saw Hessonite on her knees and hands joined.

« _Please, I’m begging you!_ » she started. « _I-I know she could be a little unmanageable sometimes…and a bit hateful, brutal or haughty…but please…she doesn’t deserve an end like that_ » Hessonite had her head down looking straight at the floor while the hands were raised above her head. Aure paled while listening to her: **why was she imploring her as if she was the leader?**

First, Aure looked at Pyrope's Gem then to her friends: they were shocked as well. She sighed and came down the steps, stopping right in front of Hessonite. She took and lowered her hands.

« _You must be Hessonite, right?_ » Aure asked quietly.

« _Facet 2L6P, cut 7XV_ …» Hessonite added still looking down at the floor.

« _Here_ …» Aure opened Hessonite's hand and gave her Pyrope's Gem. Hessonite jumped slightly and looked at her truly confused. « _You're right, she doesn’t deserve it_ »

« _What?! Girl, she almost shattered your pearl! How could you say "she doesn’t deserve it"?_ » Lace asked confused.

« _Blueberry is not my pearl, Lace. And do you think this makes you better than her?_ » Aure stood up and helped Hessonite to stand up as well. « _Anybody deserves this treatment…It's too easy punishing rather than listening and understanding_ » Lace nodded, still unsure, but didn’t say anything.

« _Blueberry, would you come with us? I want to take Hessonite somewhere_ »

The pale blue pearl smiled and came up beside her; Hessonite was looking at Aure in disbelief, carrying carefully Pyrope's Gem in her trembling hands.

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

« _I never came here before…it was forbidden_ » Hessonite whispered quietly.

Aure brought her and Blueberry to the Hot Springs; she needed a calm place in order to let Hessonite talk freely.

The three of them were surrounded by darkness laying on the grassy ground and looking at the "sky" above them: thousands of shooting stars or tiny planets were displayed on the ceiling surrounded by northern lights; around the three, many fluorescent plants and insects gave a feeble source of light.

« _Tell me, Hessonite… you spoke as if you know Pyrope from a long time_ …»

Aure saw with the corner of her eye that she smiled. « _I do…we were chosen together by Spectrolite thousands of years ago_ » 

« _Really?_ »

Hessonite nodded. « _Yes, I remember it as if it was yesterday_ …»

★ **FLASHBACK** ★

That was a sort of party / formal reunion / meeting organised by Spectrolite and Yellow Diamond's pearl. The purpose was to choose new Pyropes, Demantoids and Hessonites for her army (by courtesy of Yellow Diamond).

The large room was filled with many soldiers and high-ranked Gems like Sapphires and Lapis Lazuli. Hessonite swallowed hard in fear, she felt so small in that room. She stood with the other Hessonites looking scared at her surroundings and spotted someone. Hessonite stared at her intensely: pink skin, crimson afro hairstyle and dress with white shoulder pads and poufy sleeves. She had a pink hand fan in her hands that used to fan herself elegantly.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the muttering of other Hessonites. She heard questions like "Do you know her personally?", "Is she in a good mood today?" or statements like "I heard that if she is in an ill humour she could shatter someone in a matter of seconds". Now Hessonite was totally scared.

« _Please everyone, prepare yourselves for the powerful elegance that is... Field marshal Spectrolite_.» Saiph, Spectrolite's pearl, announced to the audience and soon the giant door opened, revealing the real star of that meeting: a 10' (3m) Gem with a navy curly bob cut, black tight corset with seamless shorts like most Rubies and high yellow boots, her blue-green eyes were looking around carefully and her blue skin seemed really smooth to the touch. Hessonite looked shocked at the crown bejewelled with different Gems.

"I don’t want to end like that…" she thought.

From what Hessonite could hear, Spectrolite was the idol of every soldier because of her fury during battles.

« _Thank you Saiph for this presentation_ » Spectrolite looked down at her pearl before turning her attention to the audience. « _Greetings fellow Gems and welcome to this special meeting. As you probably know, you are here because I need new members for my army…in particular, I need Demantoids, Hessonites and Pyropes. How will I choose those Gems? Don’t worry, I have my own infallible method. So please, for now have fun_ ∼»

"Fortunately, she is in a good mood today…" Hessonite sighed in relief.

Hessonite didn’t know what to do to impress Spectrolite (and she didn’t know if she **wanted** to). Spectrolite truly scared her and Hessonite hadn’t much self-esteem: she only had few centuries and not much experience in war and military strategies. But she was sure of something: that meeting was **terribly** organised. Hessonite was so deeply in thought that she didn’t notice a large shadow over her.

« _Salute Hessonite_ »

Hessonite jumped in fear and surprise when she heard a powerful voice just above her head. She turned quickly and saw Spectrolite towering her.

« _R-Respects, my Spectrolite_ …» she wanted to slap herself because fear was making her stutter.

Initially Spectrolite didn’t answer but then she smiled. « _Which Hessonite are you?_ »

« _Facet 2L6P, Cut 7XV»_

« _I see_ …» Spectrolite looked at her left then at her right. « _Tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this meeting looks like hell_ …» she said whispering.

« _W-Well…no, my Spectrolite. I admit that it could have been organised in a different and most efficient way_ …»

Spectrolite sighed in relief than looked at her guests. « _Do you like Pyropes?_ »

That question caught Hessonite off-guard. She worked with Pyropes before but she didn’t have an opinion about them. « _Ehm…actually_ …»

« _Me too. They always stay at the Palace of Light, I’ve never worked with them. I heard they are overseers of aristocracies_ …» 

Hessonite looked up at her than again at the group of Pyropes. The one with the pink hand fan caught again her attention and stared at her. A faint dark red blush appeared on her cheeks.

« _Do you like her?_ » Spectrolite said suddenly.

« _W-W-What?! I…I mean no, my Spectrolite_ »

« _The one with her hand fan…Facet 3C7A, Cut 7XL_ » the blue skinned Gem described the Pyrope she was looking at. « _Come with me, Hessonite_ » she commanded and Hessonite followed silently.

Spectrolite went towards the group of Pyropes: they were all beautiful with their fancy dresses and high fluffy afro hair. Spectrolite greeted them and started a long conversation; Hessonite stood quietly next to her and her gaze could not cross the curious look from that specific Pyrope. Every time their eyes would meet, Hessonite would be a blushing mess.

After a while the meeting came to an end and Spectrolite had to announce the new recruits.

« _Let's start from the Demantoids: as you can see, there were few of them today so I decided to take them all_ » the group of Demantoids cheered quietly hugging each other. 

« _Then the Hessonites: I have to admit that was a hard choice to me but at the end I will take Hessonite Facet 2L6P, Cut 7XV, Hessonite Facet 2M6D, Cut 7XB and Hessonite Facet 2F6R, Cut 7XS_ »

Hessonite could not believe what she heard: she was chosen! A young Gem **like her** chosen for a prestigious army!

« _Lastly, the Pyrope: unfortunately, only one of them satisfied me and I'm talking about Pyrope Facet 3C7A, Cut 7XL_. _Please, new recruits come here next to me_ »

All the new members of her army went next to her, Hessonite and Pyrope were next to each other.

« _Greetings Hessonite_ …» Pyrope spoke behind her hand fan. Hessonite jumped a little.

« _H-Hello Pyrope_ »

★ **END OF FLASHBACK** ★

« _Still now I don’t understand why she chose me among other skilled Hessonites_ …»

« _Maybe you told her the truth about the party_ …» Aure pointed out.

« _You think so?_ » Hessonite looked at her despite the darkness.

« _Yeah…maybe you were the only sincere Hessonite there_ »

They stood in silence for a while, looking above their heads to the "sky"; sometimes strange birds would fly around silently and they knew other alien creatures were around them.

Then Aure stood up dusting off the grass from her clothes; she looked down at Blueberry and Hessonite: the pearl had her eyes open and was looking at her while Hessonite seemed asleep. Soon after Blueberry stood up too and came up beside her.

«I remember that day, they were incredibly embarrassed…» Blueberry chuckled softly. It was clear, at least for Aure, that she was Spectrolite's pearl: Aure realized that long ago, it was pretty obvious to her. However, Blueberry never mentioned it to the group and Aure always wondered why. Maybe that was the right moment to ask her.

« _Blueberry, why didn’t you tell us that you were Spectrolite's pearl?_ »

She seemed not surprised about that question. « _Orders…that day at the Strawberry Fields she told me «From this moment, Saiph, you are free. You'll have your own name and identity.». However, as last request, she ordered me not to tell my old role in her court…maybe it was her first attempt to erase the past_. _But, at least, you realized that_ »

« _I figured it out when we first arrived here. You moved around this ship as if you lived here some time before…and you knew how it worked too well for being a simple pearl of a high-ranked Gem_ » Aure explained.

« _I'm not a good actor…as you could see back in Kansas, my Aure_ » Blueberry chuckled again.

Aure turned and started to walk between the trees. « _Lady Thelma, don’t say such words. You know very well you are capable of anyth_ -» Aure stopped mid-sentence and a loud scream followed right after. Hessonite jolted and woke up.

« _My Aure!_ »

The darkness of that place made difficult for Aure to see a steep slope behind the bushes. She was slipping fast down, the rocks were cutting and hitting her in many points and her clothes were ripped. Aure ended her descent hitting the head against a sharp rock, passing out when she reached the ground.

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

Aure woke up in Cordelia's white room, she was pocking her in the cheek.

« _Quite absent-minded, uh?_ »

Aure sat down, massaging the point of her head hit by the rock. She hissed in pain when she touched the bump in her hair.

« _Spectrolite still refuses to talk to me_ …»

« _Really?_ » Aure whispered still in pain. « _It's strange_ …»

« _Yeah…you know, for all this time I had her annoying voice in my ears but now…I'm feeling…lonely_ …»

Aure looked at her, now that she was so close to her: Cordelia had many wounds on her body, especially the arms; she saw many pinpricks due to all the injections she received; her brown hair was messy and without a proper form, her black eyes empty and lifeless as if Aure was looking at a dying person.

« _I probably understand Spectrolite's struggle…in those years where we were together she told me how she desired to…cease to exist. She defined herself a monster as evil as the Diamonds. However, I felt the opposite. I wanted to live again…at least to gain my revenge against my father and she let me. I killed him, in the laboratory…he and his colleagues, the doctors I called "brothers" and the nurses I called "sisters". Everyone there…I felt so satisfied in that moment_ » Cordelia stood up and turned, her back faced Aure.

« _But as I said, it was a moment. A mere second of happiness…then I realised…I was alone again. No one could understand my feeling, my being two entities at the same time. So I decided to isolate there, all by me and myself…in that pillar where Spectrolite's pearl found us_ »

« _You said…you understand her struggle_ …»

« _Yes…the struggle between the desire to fulfil my revenge and the wish to…live with you. Your eyes, ears and hands became ours but you had something me and Spectrolite could not control_ …» Cordelia was looking at her shaking hands.

« _ **Your emotions**_ »

Aure heard Spectrolite's voice behind her and turned, she almost touched the ceiling with her 10' (3m). Cordelia turned too, surprised as well.

« ** _We could not control your feelings, at all. In those moments,_ you controlled us: when your Amethyst friend left blinded by jealousy, we cried with you; when your Ruby showed her troublesome past, we helped you comforting her. That's when me, and I think the human child too, wanted to do something**…» Spectrolite looked over Cordelia.

Then Aure felt something at her feet; she looked down and yelped a bit when she saw **white sand**. She stared at Cordelia again and Aure noticed that Spectrolite came up beside her: Cordelia was so small compared to the blue skinned Gem.

« ** _We don’t have to be alone anymore. It's useless and doesn’t bring any benefit. If_ she is our happiness, why not be her**…» Spectrolite talked to Cordelia but the real subject of their conversation was Aure. She was their happiness?

« _What if…what if we suffer again? If someone betrays us? If someone leaves us behind?_ » Cordelia was both scared and sad, her question was full of doubts.

« _It's a part of growing up…look at Ruby for example: after the event on Earth she became more careful and wiser. Or look at Blueberry: initially her behaviour remained the same of when she was a pearl, but now she has a wonderful personality. Sorrow and pain are a part of everyone's life like happiness…the most important thing is **to react**_ » Aure replied, knowing how it felt to be left behind by someone.

Spectrolite and Cordelia looked at her in surprise then they smiled. Suddenly the white room was completely replaced by a beach with white sand, the sunset and crystal clear water.

« _Let's be her_ »

« _ **This time…forever**_ »

♦️ **SNAP** ♦️

« _Aure! Hey Aure! Wake up!_ » Hessonite was shaking her trying to wake her up. Aure opened her eyes and noticed Hessonite beside her with a worried voice.

« _Did you find her?!_ » someone yelled from somewhere near them.

« _Yes! She's fine_ » Hessonite picked Aure up in her arms and with some skilled jump she climbed back the slope. Hessonite put Aure down once they reached a safer place.

« _My Aure! Are you alright?_ » Blueberry rushed worriedly to her and looked at her body in search of lethal wounds.

« _I'm fine Blueberry, don’t worry…I just passed out for a while_ » Aure smiled at her.

« _I noticed you faint often, human_ »

That voice. « _Pyrope_ …»

While Aure was busy with Cordelia and Spectrolite, Pyrope reformed and stood there with Hessonite and Blueberry. Luckily Blueberry was fine this time. Aure looked at Pyrope, now she was pretty different from before: her fancy pink dress was replaced by another one mixed up with a military uniform (her clothes were similar to Hessonite's ones) and high pink boots.

Pyrope sighed, her dark purple eyes stared at Aure. « _Why?_ »

« _Uh?_ »

« _Why didn’t you shatter me? After all I did?_ » she asked in a monotone voice. But Aure noticed she craved for an answer.

« _Because you didn’t deserve it even if many other Gems disagreed. Your gesture was terrible, heartless, cruel. However, I don’t think shattering would teach a good lesson_ » Aure explained, touching slightly her Gem on the back. Now that Gem was **hers**.

Pyrope had a hard look in her eyes, as if she wanted to reply but she couldn’t find the right words. Her hands closed into fists, it seemed she wanted to fight. But the truth was that she was fighting against herself. Suddenly, Pyrope kneeled down in defeat.

« _I_ …» she started, looking down at the grass. « _I miss her…so much…I miss her empire, her insolence, her power…I hoped until the very end that she would wake up again but…she is gone, right? I owe her everything…I was the only Pyrope chosen for her army and now that she is gone…what was left of me? I barely know how to pilot a spaceship, I'm not that good in battles and I don’t know how to save Gems in trouble…I'm pathetic_ »

Hessonite wanted to say something but nothing came out from her mouth. She kneeled down beside her and hugged Pyrope in a tight hug.

« _You're not pathetic, Py…you're suffering like everyone else after her disappearance. And suffering doesn’t make you weak, at all. This shows how much you cared for her, how much we **all** cared for her. I'm here to help you to find your way…if you let me_» Hessonite spoke softly to her and Pyrope was looking at her in disbelief. Then her (already) pink face turned even more pink because of the blush.

« _I-If you insist_ …» she replied looking away, the blush still on her face.

« _Aren't they cute?_ » Aure whispered to Blueberry.

« _The entire Mothership thinks they are cute_ » the pearl replied chuckling.

After the clarification, the four of them decided to leave the Hot Springs. They were near the massive doors when a loud alarm rang followed by a tremor. It stopped after few minutes and everything seemed to be back to normal even though the alarm was still active.

« _What was that?_ » asked Aure.

« _Structural malfunction of the Mothership_ …» Pyrope replied listening at the alarm, the voice spoke an unknown language for Aure. « _We need to get out of here_ »

They left the Hot Springs but another tremor shook the Mothership and Aure almost fell on the ground. Blueberry caught her just in time.

« _We have to go to the throne room, everyone must evacuate the ship!_ » Hessonite uttered in a calm yet panicked tone. Pyrope took her hand and ran with the others to the throne room. Aure's friends were still there.

« _Girl! Where were you?!_ » Lace ignored Pyrope's presence in the room. « _What's happening?_ »

A holographic screen appeared in front of them, Captain Peridot was there looking worriedly at the screen. « _Human- I mean…Aure, the main structure of the Mothership is collapsing. The battle against the General weakened the structure and now it's falling down_ »

« _It's falling down?!_ » Aure went in panic, the heart started to pulse painfully against her chest. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Blueberry with a brave smile on her and so did Ruby and Lace Amethyst. This reassured her and smiled back at them.

Aure nodded, looking back at the screen. « _Thanks Captain, keep us posted please_ »

« _Of course!_ » she replied with her high-pitched voice and the screen turned off. Another tremor shook the Mothership and many Gems screamed scared.

« _We need to help the other Gems to evacuate the ship…we have to split tasks!_ » Aure proposed and everyone agreed with a nod. « _Blueberry, Ruby, White Sapphire, Roheline and Gliese: you will guide the gems in the upper part of the ship towards the hangars; Lace, Desert Rose and Cass: you will gather together with the other soldiers and check that all the Gems from the middle and lower floors reach the hangars; Hessonite: call the reinforcements from Olliecury and tell them about the emergency_.» Aure instructed everybody about their tasks and eventually she, Meragda and Pyrope stood in the throne room alone.

« _Through our thrones we can oversee the operations_.» Meragda said looking at the three chairs. Pyrope nodded.

« _Then, let's do it_ » Pyrope sat down at her pink-reddish fancy chair, Meragda did the same for her square green throne but Aure was unsure.

« _Can I?_ »

« _It's an emergency, just sit and activate it_ » Pyrope said focused on her light pink screens.

Aure went closer to the throne and she climbed it up because it was really huge while she was tiny. Her legs didn’t touch the floor and her clothes were covered with dust. She touched the armrest and the throne "activated": the geometrical etching lighted up and a cobalt blue screen appeared in front of her; strange symbols came into view in many lines. Soon that strange language was replaced by English and the triangular-shaped hair of Captain Peridot appeared.

« _Thanks for changing the language, Captain_ »

« _I imagined you didn’t understand Gem Glyph. Anyway, our computers signaled an important damage of the structure…long story short, the Mothership is collapsing on itself_ » Captain Peridot was typing frenetically something on her computers while speaking.

« _Is there a way to…fix it?_ »

« _No Gem had so much strength…not even the Amethysts or our Bismuth_ » 

« _Actually… **there is** someone_» Meragda said whispering and another tremor made her jump in fear.

« _You cannot be serious, Emerald. **Her?** We don’t even know if the human could make it_» Pyrope replied.

« _Who are you talking about?_ »

« ** _Ammolite_** » both Meragda and Pyrope replied together. The fusion of Pyrope, Emerald and Spectrolite. « _The Mothership was built to let her fit…that's why the ceilings are so high_ »

« _Pyrope, it's our only opportunity to save the ship!_ » Meragda uttered and again a tremor shook the ship.

« _Those tremors are getting closer and closer, if you keep waiting the ship will not support Ammolite's weight_.» Captain Peridot spoke through the cobalt blue screen.

« _Meragda is right, it's the only solution we have. Let's do it._ » Aure pointed out. « _And Pyrope, don’t worry about me…I count on you if I need a rescue_ ∼» she winked at her and Pyrope looked away.

« _Shut up and move_ » she said snorting and stood up. Meragda followed her and so did Aure. Now they were all at the base of the three thrones, one in front of the other.

« _Synchronize_ …» Pyrope's movements were rapid as a military march: perfect coordination both of arms and legs and straight gaze; on the contrary, Meragda was much more delicate and sensual, her dance reminded the belly dance of ancient Egypt (Aure saw a tv show about it); lastly Aure **loved** step dancing: skipping, tapping and stepping movements to create the right kind of tap-sounds and percussion with her shoes. They all danced together trying to stay focused despite the tremors; they finally made contact with each other and a bright light engulfed them totally.

The light became taller and taller, a first then a second and a third pair of hands came out from the light; it took shape slowly and at the end a giant figure stood upright in the throne room: a 23' (7m) Gem with six arms, four on the upper section of her body and the other two on her hips; three different heads (with an Emerald on the forehead of the right one) had a high and fluffy afro hair in two blended shades, blue and green, and a bright yellow crown decorated the mane; on her nape a set of pale green hair were showed; she wore a tight black corset and shorts (where on the stomach Pyrope's Gem shone brightly) with white fur in some points and blue high boots; her body had evident black lines making her skin look like a large mosaic and each "piece" had its own shade that raged from red to orange, blue, green and pink (except the three heads, they had a dark red colouration).

Once completely formed, the fusion sighed and stretched her longs arms.

« _Wooooah! It's so cool!_ » Captain Peridot yelled from the cobalt blue screen. Ammolite looked down at the screen (with her central head) and Captain Peridot narrowed her eyes. « _Ah! Human! I see you! I guide you through the ship with the speakers!_ » the screen turned off and Ammolite left the throne room.

The constant tremors made difficult walking even for her but eventually she proceeded towards the main damage of the structure. She saw many beautiful parts of the Mothership broken or damaged and this, somehow, made Ammolite a bit sad, but the central head spoke in a low yet gentle voice.

« _Don’t worry, we will re-build it_ » the other two heads smiled and she kept walking.

★ **MEANWHILE** ★

« _The last spaceship landed safely, Lace!_ » Ruby said in her cute voice.

The colony on Olliecury was prepared to welcome the "refugees" thanks to Hessonite and the entire army. The colony consisted in one big city surrounded by other tiny villages and the refugees were all host in the main city also called Distira.

Lace, Ruby, the three pearls, White Sapphire, Desert Rose and Cass were looking at the sky, the Mothership was visible from the city and a dense black smoke came out from the ship. Ruby saw many Gems crying in despair.

« _The Mothership…for most of us it means home_ » Hessonite explained to Ruby and she nodded quietly. Their eyes were stuck on the sky, hoping everything would be fine.

★ **BACK TO THE MOTHERSHIP** ★

« _I don’t know if you can hear me but in front of you there's the main structural damage: I need the time to take control of the Mothership and drive it towards the planet!_ » Captain Peridot spoke through the speakers but her voice cracked many time, probably there were damages not only on the architecture.

Ammolite grunted in a low voice trying to avoid the debris falling from the ceiling. The damage was worse than she thought initially, she didn’t know how the ship was still in its place. She hadn’t "fixing things" powers so she had to use her own strength to "sustain" the ship.

The two arms on her hips kept two large pillars in their right positions while the other four arms supported a section of the ceiling, where the main computer room was located: Captain Peridot was remotely controlling (and driving) the Mothership towards Olliecury to let it land. But if the computer room collapsed, it was nearly impossible to save the ship.

The tremors became a constant earthquake and it made difficult for Ammolite staying upright and at the same time supporting tons of floors on her hands and shoulders.

« _We are entering the atmosphere!_ » the voice of Captain Peridot spoke from the speakers.

Suddenly, the ground at Ammolite's feet was cracking dangerously. It wouldn't last long.

« _Ehm Captain? The ground ere is not stable_ …» Ammolite spoke again in her low voice.

« _I know! The impact with the atmosphere weakened even more the structure. Hold on!_ »

After Captain Peridot's words a section of the floor, right in front of Ammolite's feet, fell down somewhere. She was starting to feel the effects of that physical effort: her legs were hurting a bit and all her six arms were shaking for the intense work. Aure's side of the fusion was…giving up? What if she couldn’t not save the ship? Or if the planet would be destroyed during the operations? Or what if-

« _Enough with this!_ » suddenly a new wave of power hit her and she regained her position. She noticed that Pyrope's Gem was shining and a green light came from her left as well.

« _We won't give up_.»

« _We can do this! We cannot give up right now, it's almost over!_ »

« _If you cave in, human, I'll slap you in the face_ »

Aure recognised Pyrope's influence in this last phrase and she laughed. That was so out of place! However, Aure's side felt reassure after their words meaning that both Meragda and Pyrope were alert trying not to break the fusion.

« _Right…let's finish this! Captain!_ »

★ **AT DISTIRA** ★

The Gems watched horrified the attempt of landing the Mothership in an abandoned Galaxy Spaceshipyard where the Mothership was built. It was pretty far from the main city but from Distira you could see the arduous manoeuvres, dense black smoke came from the holes in the structures and its descent seemed unstable.

« _Who is piloting it?_ » asked Desert Rose.

« _A Peridot from Iurilia is driving it_ …» Hessonite explained, her eyes stuck on the Mothership. She was terribly worried for Pyrope. She felt a hand on her arm; she looked down and saw White Sapphire.

« _Don't worry_.» Hessonite smiled and looked back at the spherical spaceship.

As soon as it touched the ground a strong wind blew around them (many Gems had to grab something not to be thrown somewhere); the wind was followed by a short earthquake. Then silence. Nobody moved, talked or breathed. The only sound came from the Warp pad in the city and quickly Captain Peridot caught up with the rest of the group.

« _It landed?! I lost all the communications with the Mothership and I couldn’t talk to her_ » Captain Peridot was in panic, her high-pitched voice sounded even higher. « _We need to hurry!_ »

Meanwhile, the Mothership's landing was terrible: it was not perfectly at the centre of the platform (it was partially destroyed because of that) and the blue lights around the "equator" turned off meaning the Mothership consumed all its extra energies.

With a powerful punch, Ammolite removed a square section of the spaceship and she came out. She crawled far from the spaceship and sat on the ground looking at the mess she (mostly) created.

« _My stars, there's a lot of work to do_ …» the central head (Aure) spoke.

« _You're lucky, human…maybe I won’t slap you_ » the right head (Pyrope) replied.

« _Come on Pyrope, it could have been worse. We did a great work_ » the left head (Meragda) pointed out with a slight chuckle.

« _Look at that!_ » someone from the ground yelled and Ammolite looked down: it was Captain Peridot.

« _Excellent work, Peridot_ …» the right head said.

« _Yeah Captain, that was perfect!_ » the central head laughed in delight. Ammolite saw the rest of the group: the three pearls, White Sapphire, Ruby, Lace, Desert Rose, Cass and Hessonite. Ammolite then unfused.

Pyrope and Meragda fell on the ground elegantly while Aure was caught in time by Blueberry.

« _Thanks Blueberry_.» the blue pearl smiled and after few seconds of total silence everyone rushed at them hugging and crying. They were talking no-stop about how much they were worried and scared, about their happiness and someone was stammering out about the fixing.

« _I'm so glad you're all alright, guys_ » Aure had happy tears in her eyes.

« _We were **terrified** as hell!_» said Lace between her sobs.

« _Yeah yeah that was intense. Anyway… **what have you done?!**_ » uttered Captain Peridot gesturing the Mothership. « _It's almost completely destroyed! I bet all the devices will be compromised!_ »

« _Sorry sorry!_ » Aure apologised quickly to Captain Peridot. She felt two hands on both of her shoulders.

« _Nice work…Aure_ » Meragda said, pronouncing her name for the first time.

« _Yes, you did a good job actually_ …» Pyrope congratulated her with a faint smile. She was so cute when she smiled. Aure noticed Hessonite behind the pink Gem hugging her tightly. 

She was happy everything went well. With everything and everyone. Her Gem lighted up softly.

**★★★**

★ **A LONG TIME LATER★**

« _Are we ready? Is everything at its right place?_ »

« _Don’t worry Aure, it is_ »

« _I don’t want to disappoint anyone…today is a special day!_ »

« _No one will be disappointed_ »

Aure and White Sapphire were waiting inside the Galaxy Spaceshipyard looking at the newest version of the Mothership. The fixing started many months ago and Captain Peridot was the foreman of the project; everyone helped with the restoration, even Pyrope and Emerald did something. At least, Aure managed to convince Pyrope that she is as important as everyone else around her, that the military ranks were abolished and to hurry up and confess her feelings to Hessonite.

« _Why don’t you go outside to check on Pyrope and Meragda, Aure? I'll keep…my eye on this_ »

« _Are you making puns about your own single eye?_ »

« _Aye_ …»

After few seconds of intense silence, Aure burst out laughing followed by White Sapphire who laughed with much more elegance. Aure wiped out her own tears but White Sapphire continued laughing and Aure noticed that her laugh was "on-off" reminding a seal's cry. She was even cuter than before.

« _Ok ok, I'm going outside!_ » Aure left the Spaceshipyard looking for Pyrope or Meragda. She used the Warp pad to teleport in the city, Distira. Each time Aure would go there, she would have the sensation of being inside a futuristic book: strange yet colourful buildings, bridges, geometrical architecture and alien flora.

Aure learnt that all those Gems that lived in that city were all rescued by Spectrolite in thousands and thousands of years. They decided to stay there, protected by Spectrolite's promise of freedom and they never left. Given that Gems came from holes in the ground, the majority of the buildings in Distira were…uhm…apartments? There were those high buildings with many holes and Aure thought they were their "houses" somehow. These holes were too small for her so she slept in one of the spaceships: it was pretty uncomfortable but it was something.

Then, on the streets, she saw Pyrope and Hessonite together. Aure stopped a bit far from them, looking at them with stars in her eyes. She saw Pyrope touching Hessonite's pinkie with hers.

"So cute!"

Aure regained her composure and went closer to them. « _Hey Pyrope!_ » 

Pyrope and Hessonite turned and smiled. « _Hey Aure_ » Hessonite greeted her first.

« _Hello, human_ » Pyrope smiled softly.

« _My name is Aure!_ »

Pyrope laughed. « _I know, it's funnier to watch your reactions_ »

« _The Mothership is almost completed! Want to come at the inauguration?_ »

« _Of course, such questions_. _We'll go search for Emerald…she should be somewhere here with her pearl_ »

Aure nodded. «Hurry! It's almost time!»

«Yeah yeah» Pyrope and Hessonite walked away and Aure stood there watching the city.

« _Ah, I remember when we first met at the mountains…you didn’t know anything about yourself, not even your name_ » someone talked from behind her: it was Blueberry.

« _Blueberry_ …»

« _But now…look at you. With pride and self-confidence you say loud your name_ » the blue pearl smiled, her light blue hair covered one eye as always. « _Now that my mission is completed_ , _I'll live to fulfil Spectrolite's last wish: being a free and independent Gem_ »

Aure didn’t say anything, she let her speak even though she was afraid of what she would say. « _With you, if you want_ » she touched her chest with one hand keeping a sincere smile on her face.

Aure sighed (mentally) in relief. Despite she wanted to see her happy, Aure would be sad seeing Blueberry leaving her; she grew attached to her "confused and disoriented" pearl. Aure didn’t hesitate and hugged her tightly; Blueberry was surprised by the gesture but soon hugged back.

« _Of course I want, Blueberry! I wouldn’t be here without you_ » Blueberry blushed dark blue in one second and looked away.

« _We were lucky that it wasn’t her steering the Mothership back then!_ » someone else uttered from not far from the two.

« _Lace! Ruby!_ » Aure saw them coming closer.

« _Hey there, my girl!_ »

« _Lace! I thought you were back on Earth!_ » Aure hugged the Amethyst's strong arms when they reached them. Lace picked her up in one smooth movement.

« _Yeah but I came to see the inauguration_ »

« _How's Little Homeworld?_ »

« _It's becoming bigger and bigger! By the way, Blue Lace Agate says "hi"._ »

« _I miss her and all Beach City…some time I shall pay a visit to them_ » Aure said looking at the sky.

« _I'll organise a big party then! Oh hey, girl…_ » Lace put Aure down on her feet and looked at her. « _When a good and intense rescue mission appears…call me, alright?_ »

Aure laughed. « _Of course, Aura Amethyst would love it_ »

« _Hell yeah, girl!_ »

★ **TIME SKIP** ★

« _Come on, Pyrope…do the speech_ …»

« _Why me?! Meragda has a better voice_ »

« _Such a nonsense! I stutter in public!_ »

The two (and a half) Gems were whispering between them trying to choose who would do the speech for the new Mothership. Pyrope, Meragda and Aure were all too shy to speak in front of thousands of Gems and the atmosphere was becoming tense. At the end, Meragda sighed and took one step forward clearing her throat.

« _Alright, welcome everyone. As you know, long time ago Ammolite saved the Mothership from a disastrous incident_ » she started her speech looking secretly to Pyrope. The pink-red Gem looked away and crossed her arms. « _But that is in the past. During this time everyone helped as best as they can to fix the ship, our home. Me, Pyrope and Aure from Earth are proud to announce you a new beginning for our Mothership!_ »

« _Go Captain!_ » Aure yelled exited to Captain Peridot who was right beside her.

« _Don’t scream! I can hear!_ » she pressed some buttons of the computer and the ceiling of the Galaxy Spaceshipyard started to open. It was painfully slow and the wait was consuming Aure.

After a long wait, the ceiling was completely lowered and a brand-new shining Mothership was standing in front of them: sloped to the right, the spherical ship had a bright blue stripe that encircled it like an equator; the original opaque dark blueish colour of the external walls was replaced by a lighter iridescent shade. It looked like a planetoid even after all that adjustments. Aure observed it in awe excited to see the interiors. The other Gems clapped and cheered too, happy to see their home fixed.

« _Captain, could you open the doors please?_ » asked Aure.

« _If you insist_ …» she replied ironically and pressed some other buttons of her computer. Then the hangars doors opened with a satisfying metallic sound and from the walls of the Spaceshipyard a long crystal clear stair aligned itself to the hangars' doors creating a sort of escalator. The Gems were still awestruck while waiting for some instructions.

« _Well we…enter first?_ » whispered Meragda in doubt.

« _No_ …» replied Pyrope and stepped forward next to the escalator. « _Anyone who wants to take off with us and to stay in space with me, Meragda and…_ » she paused, closing her eyes. «… _uhm…Aure, please go inside tidily_ »

With that, the majority of the Gems started to get in the Mothership; Aure noticed that few of them were saying goodbye with who decided to stay on the planet with hugs or tender kisses. She kept watching the Gems climbing in the ship when she came beside Pyrope followed by Meragda.

« _Why did you stop earlier?_ » asked the green Gem.

« _I_ …» Pyrope started then summoned her hand fan to cover her face. « _I was in panic and I forgot her name for a moment_ …» she confessed in embarrassment. Aure chuckled and patted Pyrope's arm to comfort her.

« _Nice speech, Meragda_ » she said looking at the Emerald next to her.

« _T-Thanks_ …» like Pyrope, Emerald changed her appearance too: her physique reminded a Quartz soldier (tall and broad-shouldered), dark green complexion with pointed shoulder pads, then large, spiky pale green hair divided in two different big locks in the front while behind they were dark green, high green boots and her fangs were gone.

Later, when all the Gems were inside the Mothership, Pyrope, Meragda and Aure followed too walking towards the new "throne room"; there were no thrones anymore just simple Gem-technological chairs: they were placed at the same level meaning the three of them had the same importance, the new appearances of the chairs reminded of the old ones (pink-red chair and a flame-shaped seatback for Pyrope, a square green one for Meragda and a (smaller) cobalt blue chair for Aure that looked like a swing chair). The original Spectrolite's throne was moved inside the Hot Springs (now available for everyone).

« _Are we ready?_ ∼» sang Aure.

« _The engines are fully functioning…Aure_ » Blueberry said softly looking at the screen. For the first time she didn’t use "my" while talking to her. Aure was so happy about her improvements.

« _Let's take off, girl!_ » Lace uttered with her powerful voice, scaring Meragda in the process. Aure chuckled and saw Ruby next to Pyrope staring intensely at her. Pyrope turned confused at her.

« _Need something, Ruby?_ » Pyrope asked but Ruby didn’t answer. The ex-General looked at Aure.

« _I want to press the button_ …» Ruby finally replied in her cute voice. Hessonite, who was next to Pyrope, "aww" at her (Gliese and Roheline did it too).

Pyrope sighed. « _Ugh, fine_ » she picked her up letting her sit on her lap then moved the reddish screen in front of Ruby. « _When the yellow writing turns green, you can press the button_ »

Aure laughed softly knowing a new beginning was starting. A new incredible start.

**THE END** ★


End file.
